Seven school buses to be assigned to St Elizabeth, Vaz says

Seven school buses will be assigned to St Elizabeth “in a few weeks,” Minister of Transport Daryl Vaz has announced.

His statement follows a crash along the roadway in Holland Bamboo in St Elizabeth which resulted in 14 Hampton School students being hospitalised.

Principal Dr Mahvell Charlton-Brown has indicated that the students have since been treated at hospital and released.

“The entire ministry is affected when accidents of this nature occur, and for this reason we have been working assiduously to have the rural school bus system in place for September of this year,” Vaz said in a statement.

Noting that the Ministry has assessed the situation in St Elizabeth, he shared that phase one of the programme will begin shortly, and the seven school buses will benefit a total of 25 schools.

“The safety and security of our children must take precedence and despite the unfortunate rhetoric in the public domain regarding the rural school bus system, we will not relent on our commitment to ensure this is made a reality for our students,” he said.

A September start date will facilitate the retrofitting of buses to make them fit for purpose, including repositioning of the doors Vaz said. In the meantime, he urged all road users to exercise caution.

“If you are transporting passengers and particularly students that you do so in a manner that is safe and one that demonstrates an abundance of caution,” he said.

- Sashana Small

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