– Southern Badia Free School Bus Program Expands to Reach 12,500 Students and 900 Teachers AMMAN, Sept. 14 (Petra) – Prime Minister Jafar Hassan has ordered a substantial expansion of the free school bus program across the Southern Badia, bringing 3,500 new students into the transit network starting next semester.

The scale-up elevates total student coverage in the southern desert districts from 9,000 to 12,500 beneficiaries, while also extending secure commutes to nearly 900 teachers and school staff.

The directive builds on an encouraging performance review of the initiative’s pilot phase, which launched at the start of the current academic year across 61 public schools utilizing a dedicated fleet of 120 private-sector-backed buses. The program has successfully slashed absenteeism and lifted financial pressures off rural households by absorbing 100 percent of daily commuting costs.

To bolster safety and transparency, the government will deploy a specialized mobile tracking app next term, empowering parents to monitor real-time bus locations, arrival times, and onboard security feeds.

Building on the model's early success, administrative teams are already drafting rollout plans to introduce the subsidized transit framework to vulnerable school districts across the Kingdom's central and northern governorates.

//Petra// AA