Children in Wallaba, Karaburi benefitting from new school buses

Getting to school will no longer be exhausting for children in the community of Wallaba, Moruca Sub-Region One, with the availability of a new minibus. The 20-mile journey by foot, is a thing of the past for the secondary school students.

Speaking with DPI, Toshao of Santa Rosa, Stavros Stanley said the new bus would enable regular attendance. He underscored the importance of education and the transformation it can make in the lives of the nation’s future leaders.

He said the new vehicle is also a fulfillment of government’s manifesto promise to provide equitable access to education for all.

“The [Wallaba] community is 10 miles away from here [Santa Rosa] and so the children used to had to walk 10 miles to get to school and 10 miles to return home. Wallaba starts at Nine Miles and ends at 12 Miles, so we have children coming from 12 Miles so some of them have to walk about 24 miles to get to school daily,” he explained.

A similar intervention was made for the children in the Karaburi community, according to Toshao Stanley with money used from the community’s $10 million Covid-19 relief grant.

“The children have to travel about six miles to get to school and then return home so that is about 12 miles and this goes for both secondary and primary school aged students across of the island so we need transportation to get them to school,” he noted.

The Toshao told DPI the project is one of many initiatives the council will undertake to safeguard the future of children in the community.

Some $2 million was also utilised to rehabilitate the community’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hub, as encouraged by government. This step, according to Stanley, provides a space where students could adapt and benefit from internet access, especially during the pandemic.

Residents welcomed the reintroduction of the initiative as it pushed the use of technology and created countless opportunities that could accelerate the community’s economic and social development.

The Toshao thanked the government for it continued investments in the community to improve the education, agriculture, health and other sectors.