NASAUCOKO villagers in Navosa are thankful to the government for providing free transportation to more than 30 school students.
According to villager and parent Simione Namede, schoolchildren in the village occasionally missed out classes for the past couple of years because parents could no longer afford to pay daily fares.
He said most parents were unemployed and struggled to support their children's education.
"Most of these students attend Navosa Central College in Keiyasi which takes more than one hour to travel by vehicle," he said.
"In some cases students are forced to spend one week at relatives' homes near the school.
"In this case the parents are always concerned about their children because they are not properly supervised.
"This resulted in the increasing number of school drop-outs in the previous years.
"Now we are so thankful to the government for providing a three-tonne vehicle to transport our kids daily to and from their respective schools," said Mr Namede.