Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
The first week back to school has been quite an experience; from getting classes sorted out to finding which classes one is supposed to be at.
Nonetheless, many of us experience this every single year during the first week back. As I awoke on the first weekend of this academic year, I could not help but return to the old habits I have always had.
One of those habits was to read most of the latest current local events in and around the kingdom and I was shocked to learn that the first school-related tragedy has already happened in Bahrain.
A little boy, who fell asleep on the bus on his way to school, was left behind when all of the other children got off. No-one checked whether all the children had disembarked.
The bus driver was oblivious and drove back home not knowing there was a five-year-old boy fast asleep on the back seat. The boy was found hours later in a pool of his own blood and was unconscious. He went into a coma and has since died.
I have always been an advocate for children's safety when they are on the way to school. Many of us are still ignoring the fact that we, as a nation, must achieve reform in the way our kids' transportation system operates. Every year we read that buses run into accidents and now a boy has suffered the consequences of the same system.
To the authorities I tell you this: WAKE UP. Enough of the disregard. This is the year we want to see a change in the way we act and in the way safety is provided to us.
