New Bhisho boss on mission
Scholar transport head vows to nip problems in bud
NEW head of Eastern Cape’s scholar transport George Lukwe has vowed to work tirelessly to turn things around and offer an efficient service to thousands of pupils.
For years parents have complained about scholar transport irregularities that saw pupils who qualify to be transported by government to and from school missing out on the service.
This has resulted in parents and pupils staging protests, demanding to also benefit from scholar transport.
Just four months ago, transport MEC Weziwe Tikana told the portfolio committee in Bhisho that her department could only ferry 70% of the pupils who are eligible, leaving 30 000 learners having to walk long distances.
But if Lukwe’s promise is anything to go by, the challenges will soon be a thing of the past.
“I am aware of the issues I will be confronted with such as verification of learners’ IDs and sift through as per policy guidelines those who are being transported while they are not supposed to be and those not being transported while they are eligible for the service,” he said.
Lukwe, who was the education department chief education specialist in institutional development, support and governance in Nelson Mandela Bay started in the hot seat yesterday.
Education social support services chief director Sheron Maasdorp yesterday said Lukwe’s appointment would help turn things around.
This is the first time that the position is permanently filled since it was accommodated in the department’s staff organogram in 2006, something that Maasdorp said was an indication that they were committed in solving scholar transport issues.
Maasdorp said because some pupils moved from schools in rural to those in urban areas, they had struggled to ensure the supply of authentic data for the system to be effective.
“Those issues increase the number and we end up having a large number of pupils, some of whom who do not necessarily qualify as per the policy provisions of who is eligible to benefit from scholar transport,” she said.
“We cannot transport learners without authentic identification and who do not meet provisions articulated by the department’s policy in this regard.” —