Ajman: Ajman Police rescued a six-year-old Afghan girl who was left behind on her school bus by the driver and the supervisor. The girl fell asleep on way to school and both the driver and supervisor failed to notice that she had not disembarked from the bus when dropping off the rest of the students at one of the private schools in Sharjah.

The incident took place last Wednesday.

The girl was found terrified and in tears in the bus, which was parked in an industrial area of Ajman.

Police received a call from a Sudanese man, H.M.A., who said he had spotted a girl in a school bus parked in an industrial area in Ajman at around 10am.

The police rushed to the scene of the incident and rescued the girl, who was taken to Khalifa Hospital to ensure she was all right and then contacted the child’s mother. The girl is safe and back home with her mother.

Police have arrested the Indian driver, who was identified as H .K .A., and the supervisor and the school management was interrogated.

Investigations revealed that the supervisor did not notice the girl had failed to arrive for classes, although she was registered in the bus attendance sheet. The supervisor and the driver did not make sure that all the students had got off the bus, police said. The driver, working with a private transport company in Dubai, lives in Ajman, and after making the school trip in the morning, went back to his residence to rest before returning to pick up the students and drop them home after school.

The driver was charged with neglect and endangering the lives of others while the supervisor was charged with neglect.

The Indian driver and the supervisor, an Arab woman, have been referred to the public prosecution for further action.

The incident comes seven months after a three-year-old girl died after being left in a school bus in Abu Dhabi. In October last year, Nizaha Aalaa died of suffocation when she was locked in the bus after it arrived at school. The Al Worood Academy Private School student had fallen asleep in the back seat and her body was found at 11.45am.

Colonel Ali Al Matroushi, director of Ajman police stations, told Gulf News that it is mandatory for all school bus drivers to check the bus and make sure that no pupil has been left behind before they lock the vehicle and leave.

Meanwhile, the school management, who preferred not to be named, told Gulf News that the incident was the first of its kind to have occurred in the history of the school. They were shocked to hear about the incident from the police and said the school has a clean record.

The school pursues a strict policy of training its supervisors as well as drivers in pupil safety and also educates them on the correct manner of dealing with children, said the management.

In the wake of this unfortunate incident, the management has sent a warning letter to the transport company and asked them to change the driver and also informed them to strictly abide by the conditions of their contract in maintaining the safety and security of their pupils.

Education authorities, the school management suggested, must make all private schools sign a contract with a transport company such as the Emirates Transport Company just like government schools do to transport their pupils to and back from school.

To prevent any such incident from recurring, the school is planning to install CCTV cameras in all their school buses to ensure the safety and security of its pupils.

The supervisor was suspended from her work pending the conclusion of police investigations, said the school management.

Meanwhile, the mother of the girl told Gulf News that she was extremely satisfied with the way the school was so responsive and helpful towards their family following the incident. She said the principal had been cooperative the whole time.

Her daughter, she said, was initially upset by her experience and kept crying as she recalled the incident but soon put it behind her and has resumed going back to school.

Col Al Matroushi urged all private schools to sign a contract with a trusted transport company.

Supervisors should also be trained and know how to deal with children, he said.

Col Al Matroushi said the driver, H. K. A., had failed to perform his duty and has been referred to the prosecution to face trial.

Earlier this month, the Al Worood Academy school administrator was given a suspended three-year jail sentence and fined Dh20,000 for failing to check student records that day. The driver and attendant were also fined Dh20,000 each and they, along with the administrator and the school, were ordered to pay blood money of Dh200,000 to Nizaha’s family.