Students without e-transport cards can still use bus services for free for the first 2 weeks

For the first 2 weeks of the school term students without e-transport cards will be able to get on their respective buses until they receive their e-transport cards.

Minister for Education Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has confirmed that the Ministry of Education has made arrangements with the bus companies to allow students to board buses even if they do not have their e-transport cards.

He says that parents can also register their children for the subsidized e-transport cards at their respective schools adding that there will also be 23 roving teams that will be registering students for the subsidized e-transport cards.

The Education Minister has also stressed that students must have their e-transport cards within the first 2 weeks of school.

Sayed-Khaiyum has also highlighted that a total of 63,000 students have so far registered for their subsidized e-transport cards around the country.

He stated that other forms of alternative transport that is provided on a subsidized basis that include carriers, trucks and boats in rural maritime areas and these students will continue to use vouchers and travel under the voucher scheme.

Sayed-Khaiyum says that eligible students from year 2 to year 13 have already received the vouchers to take home on the last day of school last year which can be used to travel to school today.

He adds that for year 1 students, parents have been able to apply for the vouchers at the schools since the 10th of January.

The Education Minister has urged parents who have not applied for the vouchers to do so and the vouchers can be given to the child at the school tomorrow morning adding that school head teachers will have the authority to approve the applications for the voucher scheme on the same day.

Meanwhile, Sayed-Khaiyum has clarified that no teacher will receive any pay decreases adding that all school teachers who are re-engaging will be done so at higher pay rate then they would have received prior to the job evaluation exercise and equally important they along with the new graduates will have greater opportunity of higher pay based on their performance. 

Parents are to use their own discretion to send their children to school for those affected from flood waters from last night.