Technical Secondary School management should be taken to task for
having authorised the movement of a school bus at night which resulted
in an accident that killed five pupils and a teacher on the
Livingstone Road in Choma on Friday night.
All the 10 pupils including a teacher who sustained injuries and
admitted to Choma General Hospital for medical treatment after the
accident have all been discharged.
The pupils were heading to Canisius Secondary School in Monze to
compete in the Coca Cola Schools Championship which was supposed to
have started on Saturday but has since been cancelled.
Mr Simuchoba described the death of the pupils as an unfortunate as it
could have been prevented if the school management had stuck to the
rule that bans movement of school buses at night.
He said parents entrusted the School with custody of their children
and handing over dead bodies to them should not have been so.
“School buses shouldn’t move at night and the school authorities will
be disciplined for having authorised the movement of a bus night, as
this will be a lesson for the future.
Parents send children to school and now giving them back bodies, this
shouldn’t be the case it could have been prevented,” he said.
He said such tournaments are planned the school bus could have started
off earlier during the day or on Saturday morning rather than
subjecting the pupils to travel at night which resulted in an
accident.
Choma General Hospital medical superintendent Abel Shawa said all the
injured victims were discharged yesterday.
“ All the pupils including the teacher have all been discharged, while
postmortem for the five bodies has not been done and the bodies were
still at Choma Hospital mortuary,” Dr Shawa said.
Someone will be fired for an accident. So its him who should have held back instead of overtaking? He could have done so even during the day!
if it was during the day, he would have seen the stationary truck on time
The problem in this country is no one is ever willing to take responsibility. In normal societies the minister himself would have resigned for failure to give guidance to schools. I agree with the PS, those parents expect/deserve graduates not coffins.
Is there actually a statute that guides that or are you advancing ethical matters in hindsight?
Parents send children to school and now giving them back bodies, this
shouldn’t be the case it could have been prevented,” he said. THIS IS A STUPID, INFLAMMATORY STATEMENT BY PS. JUST SAY THEY WILL BE DISCIPLINED INSTEAD OF ADDING FUEL WHERE THEIR FIRE.
INSTEAD HE MUST ENCOURAGE THE PARENTS TO SUE THE GOVERNMENT FOR NOT FOLLOWING LAID DOWN PROCEDURE BY DRIVING THE PUPILS AT NIGHT. THOSE TEACHERS ARE REPRESENTING THE GOVERNMENT.
I remember us moving at similar times at Boarding School at the worst thing was that it was either a truck or a Hilux van….these pupils were in a bus and it was their own driver’s fault that caused this accident. You can pray or contribute all you want but as long as these inter-connecting roads are not dual carriage and corruption is rampant at RSTA this will be the norm; every month there will always be a head on collision. These are the issues the govt should be addressing.
Firstly I know that mistakes are bound to happen, but teachers at our schools are very negligent. After the 4 pupils who drowned at a play park in Lusaka in front of their teachers, I have made sure I do not allow my kids to go on these trips with our modern school teacher
My kid is at a popular school in Rhodes park in Lusaka. Each time my kid skips school due to illness or whatever, and I don’t inform the teacher, the following day my kid goes to school, the teacher does not even ask why my kid never went to school. And this kids class position is normally number one. When I ask my kid if the teacher asked why he was absent, he always tells me, ah you think the teacher even noticed. Our teachers need to be more alert. This tragedy is sad but I hope we can pick lessons
How can teachers be alert when their salaries are always delayed and they have to handle classes of over 60 pupils?
@Zikautu, make sure you give your kid notes to take with to school explaining his absence. Looking at the bigger picture of how tax evaders are ignored until there is an advantageous opportunity to persecute them, your kid might one day have the riot book read to him without clear reason at the time. The behavior of the Zambian psyche is to store up punishments until an opportune time. YOU ARE WARNED.
We all know that driving in the night is double the risk it’s a well known fact. Some are saying it’s the driver negligence others are saying it was bound to happen. But look at were the bus was going at that hour? Monze not to Nakonde or copperbelt were if they started off in the morning they would have arrived in the evening the next day and miss out on the day’s sport events.
This is managements fault by allowing pupil’s to travel in the night i’m sure without parents consent.
This is very unfortunate and a serious dent on the school reputation which may land the school management in court for negligence.
This should also serve as a lesson to all schools not to take things for granted when you are entrusted with peoples children. Business as usual attitudes should come to an…
No PS, no. I totally disagree. An accident is an accident, it can happen anytime. Do we recall the time that Post bus was involved in an accident in Chibombo??It was during the day, with plenty of light. The only tricky part is that every driver should be alert on the road all the time. Leave the Hillcrest administration alone.
Are justifying transporting school going children at night? are you part of the chipantepante thinking?
@flight. Swarting a fly from one’s forehead with an ax is not an accident. This was gross negligence. There are a good number of vehicles especially trucks that like to drive at night with defective headlights. Also with narrow roads and some potholes, vehicles are always maneuvering. Finally if anything happened at night they risked being attacked. So why not minimize the risk by driving in the daytime?
Its Sad no parent would want their child dead in this manner. But before we judge the management, we should also look at how poorly Government sponsors schools. am sure by the time they pounced on money it was late and they really had to be there by morning. I don’t know why as Zambians we only seem to be concerned when bad things happen. Am sure this has been happening and no one seem to care until this. please buy buses for sports for these schools and avoid future deaths. Anyway don’t really know what transpired just a concerned Zambian, In the midst of diseases its sad to loose bright young men in this manner. May there young souls rest in prefect peace.
This accident was very sad.What was the cause?
1.Badly designed roads with no shoulders for cars to safely pull over incase of a fault
2.No railways system to transport a bulk of the countries cargo leading to lots of trucks on the roads.
3.Stupiiid truck driver who just parks his car with out adequate warning signs for other drivers
4.School bus driver overtaking truck without making sure the road was clear
5.School administration for allowing bus to drive in dangerous roads at night
So as much as we blame the school, government is also to blame for our bad roads and our poor transportation system which has lead to these trucks on our roads which are responsible for over 80% of all road accidents.
Do not wholly blame it on the school admin. The trip could have been sanctioned to start off early but the driver could have delayed or other logistics were not in place in good time. It appears like the drivers was used to making trips at night. The ministry should also ban other school who travel at night. It is just unfortunate that the Hilltech guys got involved in an accident. Otherwise there other school who move at night. In the same vein organisers of school events should end the events early so that pupils can travel during the day