Bloomberg, VIO, FRSC train school drivers

A business and leadership development training firm, Bloomberg Business School, in collaboration with the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), at the weekend organised a oneday capacity building training for school bus drivers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Handling a section of the training, the Assistant Chief Road Traffic Officer and Head of Planning Research Statistics, Mr. Durojaiye Babawale, who spoke on the theme: “Enhancing Professional Competence of School Bus Drivers,” emphasised the need for professionalism on the part of school bus drivers.
While describing them as “a key figure” in their place of primary assignment, he said they are the first and last contact with children during school days.
To this end, he urged them to conduct themselves in the appropriate manner to command the desired respect from members of the public.
“The problem with school bus drivers is an environmental thing; it has to do with how we perceive ourselves.
People see drivers as the bottom part of the ladder thing but we have forgotten that they are the ones taking care of our children.
They are the first contact.
The chunk of the problem they face is how people perceive them which you cannot control.” Earlier, Managing Director, Bloomberg Business School, Mrs.
Nina Adetona, explained that the training was organised to build the capacity of school bus drivers in the FCT.
According to her, the training became imperative to correct some misconducts often recorded on the part of drivers and the need to enlighten them on professionalism in the course of discharging their duties.
“The training is about bringing enhancement and capacity building for school bus driver and making them know their values in the school.
The lives of these children are entrusted to their care, carefulness is very important so we thought of doing this training for them to get quality training especially when it comes to transporting these children.
“I notice some of these school bus drivers lack the professional etiquettes.
So, this is about appealing to their conscience to do the right thing, this is the first training the turnout is encouraging, but it could have been better because a lot of efforts were made to reach out to private school owners in the FCT to release their drivers to come for this training.” According to her, the training will be held once in every academic session and later introduced to other states in the federation.
The training, which was facilitated by some officials of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Vehicle Inspection Officers, had participants drawn from various schools in the Territory.
The managing director, Bloomberg Business Schools, Mrs. Nini Adetona, said the organisation initiated the annual capacity building training to “broaden the knowledge of school bus drivers and to equip them with safe driving skills necessary for their primary assignment of driving school children.” Mrs. Adetona, who lamented that many school bus drivers were not trained “for the job they do,” said most of the accidents involving school buses were found to have been caused by driver’s negligence of basic driving rules and skills.
“Most proprietors spend money to train teachers and neglect school bus drivers involved in the primary assignments.
The training would expose drivers to defensive driving, sharpen their life saving skills, saving for their respective schools, time, money and the buses,” she said.
She said the training which handled by instructors drawn from various sectors of the industry, would equip in them the competence conveying pupils and students “who are the future of the country from home to school and back.”