It has certainly been an interesting if not challenging six months. Entire countries under lockdown, schools closed, transport stopped, and our lives on hold. Or were they?
Many of us have been working even harder, rethinking, retraining, and acquiring new skills. During these last few months, we have participated in webinars, podcasts, zoom meetings and read government and medical guidelines/recommendations, preparing for reopening schools and running transport.
School are now reopening, and operators have prepared to provide the safest environment for transportation. New protocols are in place, focusing on vehicle sanitisation, and procedures to keep drivers and students safe. Some countries require reduction in capacity which impacts on number of passengers that can be transported or increases vehicle trips and when possible number of vehicles.
These variations to operations require collaboration and cooperation between schools and operators at time when all organizations are being challenged financially. We do not know how long this new normal will last nor what bumps we will hit along the way. But what we do not know is it is important that we all play our roles, working collaboratively, to minimize the risks of spreading the virus, so we can protect our friends, families, colleagues and the community as a whole.
Operators, schools, and governments are now busy communicating guidelines, implementing, and adopting processes as/when required. What are the challenges and perhaps the not so obvious issues and concerns being raised as we operate under this new normal?
To answer these questions, we brought together a diverse panel of experts to discuss the challenges across different regions, solutions and answers to everyday problems which continue to form the basis of best practice as we strive to operate safely within the new normal.
Please follow this link to the International School Recovery Forum for a summary of this event.
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