New school buses benefitting children in Wallaba, Karaburi

Children in the community of Wallaba, Moruca Sub-Region One, will no longer be exhausting in
getting to school with the availability of a new minibus. It was noted that the 20-mile journey by
foot, is a thing of the past for the secondary school students.
Toshao of Santa Rosa, Stavros Stanley stressed that the new bus would enable regular
attendance. He reiterated the importance of education and the transformation it can make in the
lives of the nation’s future leaders. Stanley pointed out that 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,” Stanley explained.
The Toshao disclosed that a similar intervention was made for the children in the Karaburi
community, with money used from the community’s $10M 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,” Toshao Stanley related.
The village leader revealed that the project is one of many initiatives the council will undertake
to safeguard the future of children in the community. He disclosed that some $2M was also
utilised to rehabilitate the community’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
hub, as encouraged by government. This step, Stanley said, provides a space where students
could adapt and benefit from internet access, especially during the pandemic.
He went on to note that 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. Toshao Stanley thanked the government for it continued
investments in the community to improve the education, agriculture, health and other sectors.