By Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Introduction:
The new school year is about to begin; many have to find those extra dollars to buy new school uniforms and supplies. A majority of our citizens feel the pinch, especially when there has been no new infusion in our economy in years.
Public servants’ wages are still below acceptable standards; businesses are not increasing salaries for the average workers as they too are struggling to stay afloat. GPL alone shuts businesses down daily and affects profits. Outages run close to eight hours at a time, this alone can cripple our daily activities.
Over the years, we have called for the reduction in VAT in order to put more money back in our pockets. We have called for free public transportation for our school children; instead our tax monies are being wasted on government contracts. Our pocket book is being fleeced by bad economic policies. There are fundamental changes needed in our nation for us to see a better economic future. Many of us now have children going to secondary school for the first time this year and will have an additional cost since most schools our children were picked for require transportation.
Some Examples:
The Berbice Bridge was a long awaited promise that the PPP government kept but the horror and heavy burden of the tolls are unbearable. This issue has been debated before, but I have addressed it again as it will affect many more as the school year starts. The freight charge for cars and mini buses used to be $760, canters and SUVs $1100, now it ranges from $2200 to $4400 for cars, mini buses and SUVs not forgetting the other forms of transportation. The Bridge has not waived charges for the poor citizen, with the boat a person can pay $80 to cross his bicycle and ride to work in New Amsterdam and back to Rosignol. The Berbice bridge was not constructed for cyclists and pedestrians. President Bharrat Jagdeo somehow forgot that poor people would have to cross the bridge to get to work and other social activities.
Previously the cost to cross with the Ferry was $160 return for adults making it affordable for people to get to work, now to cross the bridge the cost is $600 return resulting in most of the people that used to work in New Amsterdam quitting their jobs.
School children that crossed on the boat used to buy a contract from Transport & Harbours Department for $200 per month which was reasonable for the poor families who had several children going to schools in New Amsterdam. This cost is now in the thousands. It was a bit easier for parents to afford their children an opportunity to a higher education, now that is becoming an almost impossible dream for many children with great potential.
Many parents for example in West Berbice who have children who were awarded schools such as New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary and Berbice High School have requested the Ministry of Education to transfer their children to lower schools in their area because of the high cost of $400 to cross the Bridge to and from each day, which is way beyond their budgets. Take into consideration they still have to provide the children with food and a small spending sum as most children look forward to that each day.
It is always a joy for your child to be picked for one of the better schools in the country. Many in Linden, Essequibo and other areas that were so excited to be picked for Queen’s College or another top school, now realize that dream is impossible because their parents simply can’t afford to transport or house them in a new area. Even if you live in Suddie on the Essequibo Coast, and were picked for Anna Regina Secondary, that transportation cost that family must now find was not in their personal budget.
Conclusion:
The President has disregarded the poor in his current term; instead he has raised our taxes by a further 16% and has put no provisions to help our school children get a better education. The President has also ignored the call for free public school transportation. Instead he just announced that his administration now would spend hundreds of millions of our money to come tell us how well they have done for us in something called Cabinet Outreach. We as parents who have children in school would prefer that that money be used to solve getting our children to school safely.
Let all of us who are parents lobby for free public transportation for our children. Let us tell the President to use some of our own VAT money to pay for this along with any future Low Carbon Money being touted. “Our children are not just our future, they are our Today” Until next time “Roop”
Send comments to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.com
