20 Sep 2017

The North West District Council has been commended for the introduction of bus-trucks to ensure safe transportation for children of remote areas.

This follows the launch of three bus-trucks in Maun on September 19; two 44-seater buses as well as a 24-seater bus, which also caters for people with disability, all of which cost P4.5 million.

Officiating, the Assistant Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Frans Van Der Westhuizen said the initiative, which was a first in the country to ensure safe transportation and welfare of pupils was worth commending.

He noted that traditional open trucks were susceptible to exposure to harsh conditions of wind and rain and road traffic accidents in the bad terrain in rural areas.

Mr Van Der Westhuizen said the initiative was in agreement with a directive, which has recommended abolished of using open trucks for transporting pupils in 2012.

He observed that open trucks transportation has contributed to death of students through road accidents around the county.

The Assistant Minister for Basic Education Mr Moiseraela Goya also commended NWDC for assisting Botswana government in attaining access to education for all.

Mr Goya noted that Botswana was leading in Southern Africa in achieving the ‘universal access to primary education to all’ as compared to its counterparts.

However, Mr Goya said the challenge of reaching remote areas and people with disabilities frastrated Botswana’s efforts.

He expressed that the bus-trucks initiative would be emulated by the Ministry of Basic Education and other districts to help curb sad scenarios such as the Matsha incident, which claimed pupils’ lives due to the nature of the trucks and overloading.

Mr Goya noted that lack of funds and bad terrains had contributed to failure to implement the abolishing of open trucks policy.

The NWDC chairperson, Mr Duncan Enga noted that the bus-truck idea was birthed in 2010 by the council, but failed to be implemented due to lack of funds.

Mr Enga said the vote responsible for such projects had inadequate funds, therefore the council had to find alternatives.

He said it was in the 2015/16 financial year that the NWDC reached a breakthrough to realisation of the project and financed the project with some of the funds from Recurrent Support Grant and other means.

Mr Enga observed that the NWDC was concerned with lack of bus-trucks suitable for the bad terrain.

He noted that about 37 remote villages in the NWDC catchment area service recipients as well as 634 children in those remote areas would benefit from the bus-trucks transportation. Ends