Rwanda National Police (RNP) has urged public transporters, parents and schools to help ensure students return to school safely and in a timely manner. 

According to the Ministry of Education, the second term of the academic year 2018 will kick off on Monday next week but ‘boarding students’ will start heading to school this weekend.

RNP’s Traffic and Road Safety Department spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi, said: "Transportation of students should be done in a smooth manner. Transporters shouldn’t violate road safety standards like speeding to scramble for students, which can result into accidents.”

"As an institution charged with public safety, RNP is mandated to ensure that students travel back to school safely and for other passengers to go on with their businesses without major interruptions,” he said. 

He added that, for the safety of students and other commuters, drivers must abide by traffic rules, while transport companies have to ensure that their drivers don’t work for longer hours since fatigue on the part of drivers is one of the causes of road accidents.

He said many firms have a tendency of take advantage of the upsurge in passenger numbers occasioned by the return of students to school, and end up overworking their drivers.

He also reminded drivers to desist from overloading passengers beyond licensed capacity. 

The Ministry of Education said students will be departing in three phases and should be dressed in full school uniform.  

According to the ministry, all students should be at their respective schools by April 16 and classes will resume on the same day. 

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