President David Granger yesterday presented the keys to two 30-seater buses for school children to the Region Five, Regional Democratic Council (RDC).
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday said that the vehicles were donated by corporate citizens to the President’s “Boats, Buses and Bicycles” (‘three Bs’) programme which aims to lessen the financial burden of transportation on parents of school-age children.
The President was accompanied by Minister of Social Cohesion, Amna Ally, who has been garnering support from the business community, along with several other Government Ministers.
The release said that a group organised by Brian Tiwarie of BK International Incorporated, donated the buses. Some of those who were part of the group are Nazruddin Mohammed of Jumbo Jet Trucking Service and Auto Sales, Eaton Chester, Managing Director of Citizens Bank, Eddie Boyer from National Hardware, and Canada–based Guyanese Art Ricknauth and Gordon Winter, who organised a fund raiser.
When he was on the campaign trail five years ago, the release said that President Granger said that he met a school child at Trafalgar, West Coast Berbice, who told him that her parents have to spend $5,000 per week in transportation costs alone, so that she could attend the Berbice High School in New Amsterdam. He noted that this situation obtained in many other communities across Guyana. As such, one of the first interventions he made after assuming office in May 2015 was to launch the ‘three Bs’ programme.
“We cannot accept a situation [where] every single month 400 children are dropping out [of]school…many of them drop out because their parents cannot afford to keep them in school, they cannot afford the transportation[costs],” Granger said.