ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Against the backdrop of Monday’s two-vehicle crash in St Elizabeth which resulted in 14 students of Hampton School being treated at hospital, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz has announced that seven school buses are to be rolled out in the parish in September.

READ: UPDATE: 14 Hampton students treated at hospital following St Elizabeth crash

“I am deeply saddened and concerned following the reports of an accident in St Elizabeth where school students were injured on their way to school,” Vaz said in an audio release on Monday afternoon.

He added that the safe transportation of students is paramount.

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

“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 added

He said phase one of the programme will commence in a few weeks.

“We have already assessed the situation in St Elizabeth and a total of seven buses will be assigned in the first instance to the parish which will benefit a total of 25 schools,” said Vaz.

“A September start date will facilitate the retrofitting of the buses to make them fit for purpose to include repositioning the doors and other things. Until then, we are again urging all road users to please travel with the utmost caution on the roads and to ensure that 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 added.