10km walk to school too far - parents

ABOUT 35 children from Mhlwazi village in Khowa (formerly known as Elliot) have not been to school since the beginning of the year.

Mhlwazi Primary School was closed last February and pupils were supposed go to the nearest school, but their parents say the distance is too great.

Ryno Junior Secondary School, a farm school near the town, is about 10km away.

When the pupils were first moved to the farm school, they were ferried by unreliable scholar transport.

Parents said this year there was no transport at all.

On Tuesday, they camped at the Ngcobo education district office to pressure the department to reopen Mhlwazi.

One mother, Nopasika Qandashe, accused the department of depriving their children of an education.

She said her two children Zonke, 12, and Asonele, eight, had not been able to go to school since the year started.

“It is selfish of the department to expect Grade 1 pupils who are six or seven years old to walk for more than 1½ hours to school.

“It is for that reason that we put our foot down,” she said.

School governing body deputy chairman Tacoyi Mpizo said the department did not follow the proper channels when it closed the school.

“The school was closed illegally. The whole situation has inconvenienced both parents and pupils. Children as young as six were forced to wake up at 5.30am and walk long distances to school,” he said.

Speaking about the unreliable scholar transport, Mpizo said: “It would come three or four times a week, then it did not come for a week. From there it just stopped.”

Nolindile Deku’s five children, including a seven-year-old, had to wake up at 3am every day to make the long journey.

Her village of KwaHala has no school and Mhlwazi is the nearest one.

“We do not even have money to hire transport for them, and they were left with no choice but to walk to school.”

Deku said although she allowed her children to walk the long distance, she wanted this to change.

Deku pleaded with the provincial department to assist their children.

“We want the department to reopen the school,” she said.

Provincial education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima had not responded to questions sent to him at the time of writing yesterday. —