As someone who has seen the transportation of children to school in Canada from up close it is horrifying to see how children are transported to schools in Karachi, a metropolitan city that should have the best possible mode of transportation for our youth, the future of our country.

First, the system in Canada. When I arrived in Canada I was informed by my friend who had lived there for several years that one thing I should never do is pass a stationary school bus with flashers on as that is a mortal sin in this country.

This is how it works. School-going children travel in large yellow buses which are completely road worthy, clean and spacious. At every drop-off point, which is in most cases is the residence of a child, the buses stop and put on their flashers. Immediately, all incoming and outgoing traffic halts at a distance from the school bus. The child alights and crosses the road or just enters his or her home waving goodbye to the driver.

After the child is safely off the road, then and only then, the flashers are switched off and normal traffic resumes. If by chance you and the school bus are headed in the same direction you will have to stop several times but not once will anyone try to overtake a school bus as that carries severe penalties for the erring driver.

The transportation of children from home to school and back in Karachi and in many other parts of Pakistan is so reckless and inhumane that it defies all description. First of all there is no standard mode of transportation such as the yellow buses in Canada. Children are transported in all kinds of vehicles; most of them are extremely dangerous, worn out and overcrowded.

There are mini-vans in which children are stuffed like sardines in a can with their school bags hanging out dangerously, fluttering in the wind and the van itself zigzagging in and out of traffic with no one bothering to stop to let the school van pass without hindrance.

The so-called school van is perhaps—believe it or not—the best form of transportation available in the city. Other available transportation includes motor-powered cycle rickshaws, Qingqi, which were banned for several years before surfacing again and according to latest statistics are in tens of thousands in the suburbs of the city.

Overcrowded public buses filled to capacity with some even travelling on the roof, motorcycles overloaded with young children and their school bags zigzagging in and out of traffic are reminiscent of the dare-devil riders in the famous “well of death” performances that used to frequent Karachi during national and international exhibitions.

The most horrible aspect of transportation of school-children as witnessed by me was their being locked up in the rear of a mini-van. This was a really disturbing sight and I believe it is a commonplace occurrence. I only wonder and shudder at the thought of what will happen to these children if the van is involved in an accident or, God forbid, catches fire.

Who will open the lock and get them to safety? There seems to be a concerted effort by the Sindh government to improve transportation in the province.

Every day new transportation schemes are announced and the people of the province, especially in large cities like Karachi and Larkana, are visibly pleased and surprised at all the new schemes like Pink Buses for ladies and luxury buses for the common man plying from such attractive areas like Clifton beach to the suburbs. This is a great improvement for the people of these areas.

May I suggest that the concerned people in the government also undertake schemes to protect the young school- going children who are the future of this country and introduce yellow buses for transportation of school children and pass a legislation ensuring that wherever these buses ply they will be respected by other drivers and any violation of laws that protect school-going children will not be tolerated.

Our children are our future and deserve to be protected and provided with facilities that are routinely provided in other countries of the world.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023