Senior Multimedia Journalist
joshua.seemungal@guardian.co.tt
Some secondary school students from Brasso Seco will be unable to attend classes tomorrow because arrangements to provide public transport for them have not yet been finalised, according to residents. Officials of the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) confirmed that the Education Ministry had requested a quote for school maxi taxi concessionaires for the new school term.
The Arima/Brasso Seco bus service was stopped several months ago because of road conditions.
“We will monitor the conditions of the road, and once it is passable, we will reinstate this service. At present, at the request of the Ministry of Education, we currently operate school maxi taxi concessionaire services to Maracas, Las Cuevas and Blanchisseusse. This is expected to continue for the 2023/2024 school term,” the PTSC said.
In July, it was reported in a Guardian Media Forgotten Community series that approximately 15 secondary school students were having trouble getting to classes because the bus service to the area had stopped. One of the affected students said he missed several days of school last term.
“It’s real hard to get transport to out there... $100 every day. It had a maxi that used to come up, but it stopped. That maxi stopped coming up here long before COVID. I have to miss school some days because of the cost. Yeah, I does take a hustle and work... I does go to school, but I miss it because of the transport issue. As school opens back, I’ll be going. But it’s once in a while when things get tight, I don’t go.
“It have other children too. Sometimes it’s six of us in a car going out. If you don’t get transport, you go back home. You know how much time I waited and I couldn’t get anything and I had to go back home. You see seven, half seven, and you have to go back home,” he said.
Early last month, Arima MP Pennelope Beckles-Robinson said she was aware of the issue and had petitioned the Education Ministry to have a service resumed to the village.
“This is a very, very serious issue for me, and the minister has responded. Of course, it’s critical because of the long distances that people have to travel. Of course, there are some issues. There is the issue of roads,” she said.
“You can see that there’s work being done. They’ve done quite a lot of work in the Blanchisseuse area and in some other areas, the drainage is critical. Depending on what side you’re coming from, you can see that work is being done, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”