The Free School Bus Programme was launched by the Premier of Sarawak on 14 July 2020.
An initiative by the Sarawak Government under the Ministry of Transport, it is implemented by Yayasan Sarawak, in collaboration with school bus operators, local councils, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation, Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Sarawak, and the Commercial Vehicle Licencing Board. The programme aims to:
- Help students from the low income or B40 group living in major cities and towns in Sarawak to go to school;
- Ease the financial burden of B40 families; and
- Tackle problems of absenteeism and dropouts among students who lack access to transportation to attend classes.
It features, among others:
- A hop-on, hop-off basis, whereby students can take the bus on designated routes categorised under zones.
- School bus fare assistance for B40 students in Sibu, Bintulu and Miri
As of May 2023, the programme has benefited 7,666 students in divisions of Kuching, Sibu and Miri.
However, these numbers, states Yayasan Sarawak director Haji Mersal bin Abang Rosli in an interview with RAKAN Sarawak, are only estimates provided by participating schools and bus operators, making it a challenge for the foundation to validate the overall effectiveness of the free school bus service.
To overcome this, the foundation is in the midst of expanding and improving the programme under its upcoming my-Yayasan initiative with further use of technology, particularly artificial intelligence.
The measure is undertaken to boost efficiency and effectiveness in managing and monitoring the service, subsequently enhancing its capability to gather more accurate statistics regarding the programme’s success.
“We find that the current set up or the way we manage the free school bus programme is not efficient. For example, in Kuching when we monitored school buses, we noticed that some of them run through designated routes without any passenger inside.
“Then in Miri, where we give vouchers to students, we do not know whether they actually use them to ride on the bus, throw them away or even sell them,” Tuan Haji Mersal elaborates.
At the time of the interview in August 2023, trial runs have been conducted at five (5) schools in Kuching and another five in Miri since the previous month, where students are given unique barcodes on digitalised electronic cards that they can use when they hop into any school bus under the free school bus service.
Bus drivers will scan the barcodes, which are then uploaded into Yayasan Sarawak’s system, allowing the foundation to keep track of students riding the bus and make payments to bus operators in a timely manner.
“So now with that apps (created under the my-Yayasan initiative), I can tell you not only the number of students riding on the bus, but also who they are, including their socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity,” says Tuan Haji Mersal.
In the future, the free school bus programme will be extended to river transportation to cater for students in rural areas who are only able to go to school via boat.
Tuan Haji Mersal reveals that at present, Yayasan Sarawak is mapping out routes via Google Maps to determine the distance and afterwards the rates to pay boat operators for the service.
Number of Participating Schools in Free School Bus Programme
As of November 2022, there are 63 schools participating in this initiative:
- 27 in Kuching
- 29 in Miri
- 5 in Sibu
- 2 in Bintulu
References:
Nur, A.L. (2022, November 29). MOTS wants federal funding for stage bus services up to RM50 mln, extension of free school bus programme. DayakDaily. https://dayakdaily.com/mots-wants-federal-funding-for-stage-bus-services-up-to-rm50-mln-extension-of-free-school-bus-programme/
Ten, M. (2020, July 29). ‘Free school bus service to handle 3,000 daily ridership’. The Borneo Post. https://www.theborneopost.com/2020/07/29/free-school-bus-service-to-handle-3000-daily-ridership/
The Sarawak Foundation. (n.d.). Program and Assistance. https://yayasansarawak.org.my/en/program-dan-bantuan/
The Sarawak Foundation. (n.d.). my-Yayasan. https://myys.yayasansarawak.org.my/
Yayasan S’wak introduces digital card to ensure free school bus programme meets target group. (2023, May 22). DayakDaily. https://dayakdaily.com/yayasan-swak-introduces-digital-card-to-ensure-free-school-bus-programme-meets-target-group/
