Tapakuma, Mainstay students take advantage of government school bus

By Indrawattie Natram

SITTING anxiously while awaiting the signature yellow and green school bus to arrive at Anna Regina, 14-year-old Serena Benn, a resident of the St Deny’s/Tapakuma community in Region Two, said she is forever thankful to President David Granger for the gift he presented to the children of the community. The gift Benn was referring t, is the two-seater ‘David G 13’ school bus that was donated in 2016 to children in the Region, in an effort for them to have easier access to transportation to get to school.

The young lady said that the bus not only serves as a vehicle but it provides children like her with the opportunity to attain a better standard of education. Benn who is an aspiring doctor said that she honestly knew that her parents could not have afforded to pay a bus fee for her. She said that on a daily basis, before the provision of the bus, her parents would have had to find $800 a day to spend on transportation alone.

“For me I am thankful for this bus. My parents save $800 per day- that’s $4,000 weekly from Tapakuma to the Anna Regina Multilateral. My parents are farmers and if the bus was not in place I would not have been able to reach this far in my schooling” Benn said.
The young lady, who is a prefect in her class at the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School, said that she feels motivated every day knowing that she is one step closer to her dreams.

Like Benn, Emanuel Simon said that the bus is a great help to his family, “From our house, four children benefit. That is a great relief for my parents. My siblings and I are thankful that we are given the opportunity to attend school because some of my other siblings are school dropouts because my parents could not have afforded the transportation cost,” Simon said.

Evidence of what Simon describes can be found in the recently released 2017 Study on Indigenous Women and children in Guyana conducted by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), which found that there is a high level of school dropouts in Indigenous communities due to the high cost of transportation and parents’ inability to afford such costs.

Another student from the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School, Trevor Persaud said that he wakes up as early as 05:00hrs to catch the bus. He said knowing that a bus is coming for you alone is an incentive to attend school. Previously, he said he had to walk a long distance to access public transportation and sometimes his parents couldn’t afford it.

Contracted driver, George Rockcliff, has been transporting the children to and from school over the last two years. He said he makes several trips each morning because he has to transport children from Tapakuma/St Deny’s and Mainstay/Wyaka villages. He related that in total the children from these communities travel as much as 36 miles to get to school daily.

Over the years Rockcliff has develop a love for the children. He said that 54 children benefit from the service daily.
The driver said that whenever the bus is due for maintenance the children would be stranded and some of them sometimes stay home, so he tries his best to maintain the bus and to do any necessary mechanical work on weekends.

Apart from the bus services, Rockcliff said the students were given solar panels recently so that they can study in the nights. He said that due to the fact that they have to wake up early in the morning they are given free breakfast at the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School dormitory. The breakfast is complimented with the free bus service and is a way of boosting the attendance rate at the various schools.

The school bus was handed over on September 29, 2016 to the St Deny’s/Tapakuma, Mainstay/Whyaka community under the President’s Five Bs programme. The bus was donated by popular Essequibo businessman Joe Jagmohan in collaboration with Innovating Mining Inc. During the handing over ceremony, President Granger had said he was not happy with the state of education, especially in the hinterland communities, and as such he provided the bus so that children can be able to pursue their dreams.