By Vanessa Braithwaite

Some parents of the children who benefit from the free services of the David Granger II Vessel in Linden are concerned over the lack of supervision on the boat which has resulted in verbal and physical fights between the children who travel.The boat transports children from riverine communities up the Demerara River as far as Gold Hill.

One parent who opted for anonymity told this publication that the free transportation services provided by the boat is very much appreciated, especially for parents who do not own their own boat or cannot afford the cost of the public boat.

Her concern however lies in the regular occurrences of fighting in the boat. On one occasion a knife was pulled.

“This boat thing hay it got a lot of problems because children does be picking fight in the boat; children pulling knife all and I feel somebody need to be in the boat to supervise them children,” mentioned one parent.

This, she said could be remedied if a responsible adult from the Ministry of Education is present on the boat to control the children, and enact discipline whenever needed.

Another parent revealed that when the services started, parents opted to travel in the boat to supervise the children, but other parents were not in favour of this, arguing that the boat’s purpose is to transport children to school and not parents who at the time would be taking up needed space in the boat.

With numerous complaints of violence being displayed by the older kids, parents are calling upon the relevant authorities to put a system in place to have the children properly supervised during their journey to school.

According to one parent, the boat captain though an adult cannot effectively supervise the children since he has to focus on safely navigating the boat.
“You can’t be driving an engine boat and focus on what going on in the boat, you have to focus on where the boat going,” she said.

In January, President David Granger journeyed to Linden to commission two school boats, one for the Berbice River and the other for the Demerara River.

The boat that plies the Demerara River currently transports 33 children to and from primary and secondary schools in Linden.

The Regional Education Office has the responsibility of providing 50 gallons of fuel weekly and wages are also paid to the captain and “boat hand”.

The other boat that plies the Berbice River is used to transport the children living in communities such as Arraculi and Upper Rosenburg to attend primary and nursery school at Kimbia.

Currently, 23 children benefit from this transportation and the Education Office supplies 15 gallons of fuel per week. The boat is responsible for making four trips per day as it returns during the midday hours to transport the nursery children home.