Today/CAN-June 12
School bus operators will be provided with additional foreign worker quotas to increase the supply of bus drivers “on a time-limited basis”, announced the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Monday (June 12). The recent shortage of drivers and rising cost pressures has made it more challenging for school bus operators to sustain their operations, said MOE in a press release. This has resulted in cases of operators terminating their bus contracts with schools in the past few months, and has caused inconvenience for affected parents and students, said the ministry. MOE has received “persistent feedback” from school bus operators about losing their school bus drivers and their difficulties in recruiting replacements. Together with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Manpower, MOE has decided it is necessary to provide selected operators with additional foreign worker quotas. School bus associations and operators can apply to MOE to request for a higher foreign worker quota for school bus drivers, said the ministry. “We will work closely with operators to phase in more foreign workers based on their needs, taking into consideration the extent of their participation in serving our schools, as well as their demonstrated continued efforts to actively recruit local school bus drivers,” it added. The school bus contract template will also be revised, and will take effect for new contracts awarded to operators for their services from 2024, said MOE. Operators will be allowed to submit two sets of bus fares for both the initial contract and option periods, which would allow them to take expected cost increases into account, instead of being contractually bound to the same fares for the whole contract period. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/school-bus-operators-get-additional-foreign-worker-quotas-tackle-driver-shortage-moe-2191106
