Leaders, Head teachers, and community members from Kajiado North met to discuss the newly implemented policies on safety of learners while travelling to and from school The issue of discussion was on the 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
policy for transportation of students to and from school. Other issues emphasized were the safety of students while being transported, proper maintenance of school vehicles, necessary documentation required by schools to transport learners, and recruitment of qualified drivers, among others. Kajiado Sub-County Director of Education Jane Muriimi said that the guidelines have been in place since 2023, but the schools have not been implementing them thus prompting the government to ensure compliance. "The heads of institutions have been provided with the guidelines and given an ultimatum to comply with them fully," said Muriimi, insisting schools must implement the guidelines within a week. "The police have been informed about the guidelines, and non-adherence will have consequences," added Muriimi. The Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) of Kajiado County, Yusuf Mohamed, and the Sub-County Police Commander, Tom Achiya, also emphasized the adherence of the policies. "This is a call to engage the school heads and an emphasis for them to work together in this journey.
We must protect the school kids and ensure that they are always safe," said Mohamed. The DCC further said that they will address some of the schools' concerns on the challenges they may face that are within the limits and share the ones beyond the office limits with the ministry of education for further guidance Achiya called upon teachers to reach out to them whenever they needed help sensitizing students, teachers, and workers on road safety. Curriculum support officers from Ngong and Ongata Rongai who participated in the meeting said they acknowledged that the policy is solid and will improve the safety of students. Despite the positive, some teachers did not receive the news well, saying there were a lot of factors making the implementation of the 6am to 6pm transportation of students hard and citing some as poor conditions on the road, especially during the rainy season, and also long distances for picking up and dropping off the students. "The challenge with the 6 to 6 transport policy is school buses.
