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‘My Daughter Was Left Behind On The School Bus’: Maltese Mother Raises Alarm Over Children’s Safety In School Transport

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For Kiera, seeing her six-year-old daughter off to the morning school bus and collecting her in the same spot at the day’s end was part of the normal weekday routine.

One fine day, she awaited her daughter’s return by the platform. Yet, as the minutes went by without any appearance from her daughter, she began to worry, as most mothers would.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty. And by the time her daughter’s absence almost touched the half-an-hour mark, it seemed ever more obvious that something was amiss.

Luckily, one of Kiera’s neighbours had the phone number of the bus driver in charge of bringing the kids home. And the two wasted no time in trying to contact him.

Lovin Malta reached out to Kiera, who recounted her experience.

“I called the bus driver, who was still on the road at the time,” she began. “I asked him if there was anyone on the bus. If my six-year-old daughter was still there.”

“He turned over to check. That was when – to my relief – he exclaimed ‘Ara! Gawn Gada! (Oh, look! She’s still here!) Naseb baqget rieqda l-galliema!’ (I think her teacher remained asleep!)”

School policy dictated that one teacher would accompany students on the bus, so as to ensure that every student arrives home safely.

“In any other country, this would have been taken far more seriously,” Kiera said. “That feeling of not seeing your child return home from school as usual… I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone.”

The story had a happy ending, with Kiera being reunited with her daughter, who returned safe and sound. However, things could have potentially ended up far worse.

A warranted frustration at the situation spurred Kiera to contact her daughter’s school, who in turn, reverted back by stating that the teacher who was entrusted with supervising the kids on the bus that day had since been suspended because of this incident.

Kiera did not stop there. She took up the matter with the Ministry of Education, in the hope that this unfortunate event wouldn’t happen again.

Education Minister Clifton Grima allegedly apologised on behalf of the state and assured her that he would be seeing to the matter personally.

A similar incident took place last October, when three-year-old Marija was left in a school minivan by herself, in a garage.

The occasion had the toddler cry and scream for her mum for no less than three lonely hours. It also had a worried mother fearing the worst.

Much like this time, the minivan in question was part of the government-provided free school transport with the exception that a supervisor was not present to provide a headcount on kids entering and leaving the bus.

Do you think more needs to be done to ensure the safety of children on school busses?

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