President David Granger’s Boats, Buses and Bicycles or ‘Three Bs’ Programme for schoolchildren yesterday grew by another boat which was donated by Charity fisherman, Kumar Lallbachan.
A Ministry of the Presidency statement said that Granger commissioned the David V G. Lallbachan said, according to the statement, that he decided to make the donation after hearing numerous complaints from parents of the region about being unable to get their children to school because of the high cost of transportation.
The President said the gift to the children was the best Christmas gift he could have received.
“That is the spirit of [being] Guyanese… Giving these boats is a public good… it is not a matter of supporting one party or another party… I want to see that we as a community, not as a government, not as a political party, as a community, let us take responsibility to ensure that all those children get to school,” he said.
He added, “If children in one part of the country can get to school, if children can get access to a good education, to meals, transportation, it means that all other children must get similar access. We can’t do it overnight but we can’t have any children being left behind.”
The President contended that the development of Guyana is hinged on his Every Child in School Policy. “I am sure if Guyanese got their children to school this country would turn around in no time at all. Poverty would be eliminated. Inequalities would be removed. We’d have roads; we’d have bridges; we’d have culverts; we’d have better airports, stronger regions if we had an educated population. Right now more than 4000 children drop out of school every year. As President, I cannot have that,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Minister of Social Cohesion, Amna Ally said that the boat that was commissioned yesterday is intended to serve the children of the Upper Pomeroon. A smaller boat had previously
been commissioned for that area but it was insufficient for the needs of those communities. That boat has since been sent to serve communities in the Demerara River.
Ally said in the statement that the programme is continuing to grow. Another boat, the David G VI, will soon be commissioned for the Canje River.
The ‘Three Bs’ initiative was born when President Granger visited the Pomeroon and a father told him of the high cost of getting his children to school at Charity by boat. Following that, the statement said that the President on his birthday, on July 15, 2015, called for school boat donations to ensure children can get to school.
The David G V cost $1.4 million to be built and Lallbachan coordinated with three other businessmen from the area to purchase the outboard engine.
