School buses in Oman to get satellite tracking system

Buraimi: School buses will soon be fitted with a satellite tracking system for the 2016-2017 academic year.
During a meeting in Al Buraimi between the Ministry of Education officials and an outreach team, headed by Ahmed Al Munthri, the deputy director general for Administrative Affairs in the ministry, enhancing the safety of school buses in the Sultanate was discussed, along with achievements and future plans.
It was mentioned that a satellite tracking system will be implemented for school buses starting from the 2016-2017 academic year for first to fourth grade students.
The committee responsible for monitoring the buses will be able to directly track bus routes and pinpoint their locations.
It will also display the bus driver’s behaviour, such as over speeding, not wearing a seatbelt or reckless driving.
The tracking device will also display the bus’s route, as well as the location of the drop point; and an SMS will be sent to the responsible authorities in case the drivers are found in violation of driving ethics or divert from the proposed route.
The system will allow the ministry, directorates, schools and parents to monitor the buses, as well as issue a daily report. An SMS will also notify parents if the bus has entered the residential area to drop off the students.
In addition to all the safety additions in the school buses, an identification system will also be installed, involving fingerprint scanners and a smart card reader, which when used by the students, will send a message to parents notifying them that the children have embarked or disembarked from the bus. The system will also calculate the number of students as they get on and off the bus and issue a warning if the numbers are not consistent.