School bus service for Thomas Hills students -To increase attendance rate in the area

Students from Thomas Hills, a village in Mabaruma, Region One will no longer have to walk long distances to attend school, thanks to the gift of a nineteen-seater bus.

Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock handed over the bus to Community Development Council (CDC) Chairperson, Vicky Cheung, during an outreach to the Barima Waini Region on Friday.

The initiative forms part of President David Granger’s Five Bs programme, aimed at providing boats, buses, bicycles, breakfast, and books to school children across the country.

Minister Allicock reminded the students and parents gathered at the presentation ceremony, that the government has started the process of ensuring that the nation’s children have everything necessary for them to receive a quality education.

The minister encouraged the residents to make full use of the transportation and put all the necessary arrangements in place to ensure proper management and maintenance of the vehicle.

“I am not here to dictate to you, you have to sit with the people and the regional official and design a plan to ensure the transportation is fully utilised. You can form a committee because a driver will need to be hired, fuel will be needed for the bus and other factors will have to be worked out.” The CDC chairperson, Cheung said that the service will increase school attendance rate in the community and its environs.

Cheung explained that the bus will be used to transport students to the Secondary, Nursery and Primary schools in the township, it will also be utilised to transport senior residents to uplift their pension at the Mabaruma Post Office. Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) students will also have access to the service.

The bus is one of three handed over to the region over the last three days. At Santa Rosa, Moruca sub-District, the bus there will bring relief to students travelling 24 miles to and from school daily. Another bus will also be handed over to Port Kaituma Secondary School, today.

Source:http://dpi.gov.gy