Invisible suffering.

Invisible suffering.

Every morning very early, front doors open everywhere in the country and children are picked up by taxi buses. Children who were woken up at six o’clock by their parents to be ready on time. All other children sleep on a little longer; they only need to start cycling at around quarter past eight.

Often these children do not live very far from their school. About ten kilometers. Yet the trip takes a long time, sometimes up to an hour and a half. The taxi still has to stop at many addresses to pick up other children who also go to special education.

Expertise

Who are these children? They are children who are not allowed to go to regular education. Because it does not have the facilities to give them the needed care. Because the classes are too large and they need extra attention. Because the expertise at regular schools is not there to teach them. Often they “have” something. Autism, an anxiety disorder, “behavior problems.” Or a more visible disability.

These children sit together in a taxi bus. Up to three hours per day. That is hard, especially for children who are already more vulnerable. Often they need a lot of structure and get overwhelmed quickly. Sadly, there are often different drivers and no supervision in the bus. Sometimes things go wrong: the bus is very late or does not show up at all. Incidents happen in the bus or there is no handover with the school.

Exhausted

When arriving at school, many of these children are already quite exhausted. And then the school day still has to start. At the end of the day the same happens in reverse. Some children are away from home for about twelve hours. Sports or meeting friends nearby is not possible then. Quick eating and going to bed, because the bus is back at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.

Can this be done differently? Yes, it can. But it costs something. Municipalities are responsible for organizing student transport. They outsource this to transport companies. Of course, at the lowest price, because that is how bidding works. The carrier with the most efficient planning and who pays drivers the worst wages often wins. And then there is no time for the driver to get to know the children well. Let alone a budget for a pedagogical supervisor in the bus. So, bidding makes price more important than quality.

Distressing

Is it bad everywhere? No, certainly not. From our research among parents, besides many distressing situations, there were also very good examples. Often there is a great driver who guides the children wonderfully. There are fixed routes and few changes. And municipalities have included shorter maximum travel times in the bids. We must make these good examples the norm. That is why we call on the minister to set stricter requirements for the quality of student transport. By fixing and greatly reducing the maximum travel time for children. By making budget available for quality, training, and better salaries for drivers. And by working very hard in parallel to offer these children more places in regular school. So that after a few years, taxi buses will no longer be needed.