Gov’t provides buses to transport Portland students
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Education and Youth is providing four buses to assist students in Portland, particularly those attending Happy Grove High School, who are experiencing challenges as a result of the work under way on the Portland to St Thomas leg of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP).
Education Minister, Fayval Williams, said that a decision was made to engage the buses to get students to school, until things get back to normal.
The objective is to ensure that the education of the students can continue smoothly.
“It is exam time and our students need to be in school. We had to jump in to provide a solution, to engage bus operators to take our children to and from school so that they remain engaged with their education,” Williams noted.
The Minister said she is grateful that the operators have come on board, noting that they are providing a “significant” service.
“We are showing them [students] the care and concern that we have for them and their education. We hope the road will be completed shortly, and in the meantime, we are asking patience from our students, our parents, and from all the communities,” Williams said.
The SCHIP involves the rehabilitation of approximately 110 kilometres of roadway between Harbour View in St Andrew and Port Antonio in Portland and the 26-kilometre thoroughfare from Morant Bay to Cedar Valley in St Thomas.
It also entails construction of the May Pen to Williamsfield segment of Highway 2000.
The project seeks to improve the alignment and capacity of the existing southern coastal main arterial road so that it will be safe and efficient.
