Thousands of pupils left stranded by state
Not enough funding for scholar transport
More than 90 000 pupils across the country have been left stranded by government scholar transport this financial year.
The pupils who are most affected come from rural provinces where many still walk long distances to school.
The departments of basic education and transport have told parliament that one of the key challenges in providing scholar transport was that provinces do not prioritise the programme in their budgets.
The departments said there was a need for further funding in four provinces – Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and Limpopo.
In the 2016/2017 financial year, the departments revealed that 521 711 pupils required scholar transport but only 419 849 were transported, and that the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal had the biggest shortfall.
The budget for scholar transport is R31.1-billion and there is a shortfall of about R640-million.
The number of pupils identified to be transported now is 556 294, but only 459 580 have access to scholar transport.
Equal Education (EE), which has been campaigning for scholar transport, told the parliamentary committee most children from schools it had visited this year walk more than 10km to get to school.
“Over the past two years, EE has spoken to teachers and principals who complained of having to teach learners who were hungry and exhausted after their long walk to school, and who struggled to concentrate or stay awake in class.
“They attributed high incidences of late-coming, absenteeism, and learners dropping out of school to the lack of scholar transport,” EE said.
The departments also raised that road safety was an issue, especially for private transport where parents have contracts with operators. The biggest problem is unroadworthy vehicles, unauthorised services and unqualified drivers .
Last month 18 pupils in a private minibus from Mpumalanga to schools in Bronkhorstspruit died when their taxi crashed.