On a ceremony held at the Dolphin Drive campus of The Bahamas’ Stapledon School, a specialized institution serving students with disabilities across New Providence, Prime Minister Philip Davis and Minister of Innovation and National Development Sebas Bastian officially handed over the keys to a brand-new wheelchair-accessible school bus on Wednesday. The generous donation marks a direct response to unmet transportation needs raised by school leadership during a prior government visit, and is set to remove long-standing mobility barriers for disabled students at the facility.
The handover event drew a crowd of government representatives, school faculty, and excited students, who gathered to mark the milestone in expanded accessibility for the institution. Speaking to attendees, Minister Bastian emphasized that the donation was far more than a gift of a vehicle—it was an investment in equal opportunity for young disabled Bahamians. “We collaborated to purchase this bus for the Stapledon School, and today, we’re not just dropping off a new vehicle. We’re here to open new doors, and to cement the principle that education and participation should never be limited by a person’s mobility,” Bastian explained. “Every student deserves the tools they need to move through their community and access the experiences that help them grow.”
Beyond daily school commutes, the new bus will enable the school to expand extracurricular opportunities for students, including trips to off-campus sporting events, community engagement programs, and social activities that were previously out of reach for many wheelchair-using students. Bastian also highlighted the outsized impact Stapledon School has across the country, noting that while the campus falls within the Fort Charlotte electoral constituency, it serves students from every corner of New Providence, making its work a national priority.
For Prime Minister Davis, the donation grew directly from conversations held during a tour tied to the government’s national school breakfast program, when Principal Amanda Moncer shared the school’s urgent transportation challenges. Davis pushed back against any suggestions that the donation carried political motivations, framing it as a straightforward commitment to the government’s core promise of leaving no child behind. “When I heard Principal Moncer’s request, I knew we had to act now, not for any political gain, but because these kids deserve this,” Davis said. “We firmly believe that no child should be locked out of opportunity because of their disability. No student’s circumstances should ever rob them of the resources, facilities, or experiences their talents deserve.”
For the Stapledon School community, the new bus solves a long-standing dignity and accessibility issue. Principal Moncer explained that the school’s existing small vehicle required wheelchair-using students to transfer out of their personal chairs to ride, a process that was both uncomfortable and undignified. Sharing the example of a student named Janelle, Moncer noted that previously, the teen had to leave her chair behind to climb into the school’s old van. Now, the new bus features a built-in ramp that lets students roll directly on board, and stay in their own wheelchairs for the entire ride if they choose. “This isn’t just about getting from place to place—it’s about letting our students travel with comfort and dignity,” Moncer said.
During the ceremony, Moncer also took the opportunity to issue a public request to expand the government’s existing school breakfast program at Stapledon, which currently operates fewer than five days a week. She shared that the program has already driven measurable improvements in student attendance, and has become a deeply anticipated part of students’ weekly routines. “We’ve seen firsthand how the breakfast program helps boost attendance. Students look forward to it so much that they even come to the kitchen on off-days, expecting it,” Moncer said. “We’re asking that the government consider expanding it to a full five-day school week to support our students even more.”
She closed by thanking Davis and Bastian for the donation, and expressed hope that the collaborative relationship between the school and national government would continue long after the handover ceremony. “This is not a one-time gesture. We know this partnership will keep growing to support our students,” Moncer said. At the conclusion of the event, students gathered to thank the visiting officials, and Davis and Bastian posed for photos with Moncer as they officially transferred the bus keys to the school.