More than 50% of ‘David G’ buses not working
One of the ‘David G’ school buses
One of the ‘David G’ school buses

By Tamica Garnett

MORE than 50 per cent of the 21 school buses under the former “David G Five Bs” programme are currently in need of repairs, and it will take millions to restore them to proper working condition.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand shared that of the 21 buses under the programme, 11 are currently in a state of disrepair. However, she noted that the Ministry will be using the remaining 10 to assist with transportation for the nation’s children, given that the vehicles are the property of the State.
Although the total cost to repair all the school buses is not yet known, an estimate done on one of the damaged buses has revealed that the cost will be in the vicinity of $35M to fix just one of them.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand

In giving a regional breakdown, Minister Manickchand said one of the school buses is working in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); five are out of operation in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) has four, but only three are working; Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has five, but only three are working; Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) has two, but only one is working; Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) has one, and that is working; and of the three in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) just two are working.
The school buses are distributed across the ten administrative regions, and are under the management of the respective Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs).
“More than 50 per cent are not working. This is not my report; these are reports we got from around the regions upon request. Some of them can be repaired, and are being repaired, and some of them cannot be,” Minister Manickchand revealed.

The Minister was at the time responding to queries during a press conference on Saturday last, where the Ministry officially announced that schools will be partially reopening from November 9 for Grades 10, 11, and 12 students.

This will mark the first official return of students to the school buildings since schools were closed in March as part of a slew of measures instituted to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

During a follow-up interview with the Guyana Chronicle, the Minister refuted reports that the Ministry was not utilising the ‘David G’ vehicles, or does not want to repair them, because they were part of a programme instituted under the previous David Granger administration.

“It’s foolishness to say that we don’t want to repair them. The buses are State property; they don’t belong to any one person; it is the people’s property. So every effort will be made to make sure the buses are effectively used and serviced, in the same way that every other State property is used,” Minister Manickchand clarified.

She stressed, however, that the vehicles are in a severe state of disrepair, as they were acquired without proper assessments.

“The buses were bought without any foresight or forethought, so what we have is a bunch of people gave some old buses; 35-year-old buses; fix it, cut a ribbon,” she noted.
Manickchand said she understands that parents are genuinely concerned about transportation for the schoolchildren, but given the volume of learners there are, the buses are wholly insufficient, even with the partial reopening of schools.

“Wherever the buses are, they are going to be applied and used for the children, but we have 21 buses, and 21,000 children about to come back out to school. And even if all 21 buses were working, it still couldn’t manage the transportation of all the students,” the minister explained.
Guyana currently has some 170,000 children in the public school system, and the Minister related that an assessment will have to be done first, before any transportation system can be implemented.

“Would it be easier for parents and students if we have school buses on the road? The answer lends itself without a question; of course, it would be. But the issue is how to do that effectively for 170,000 children in the country,” the Minister said.

The Minister further said that a more pragmatic approach to the situation of transportation for students is to ensure that the quality of education at all of the schools across the regions is more equitable, so that students can be placed at the secondary schools closest to their homes, as is done in the case of assigning students to primary schools.

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