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Desperate parents and learners from over 10 villages near Langeni Forest outside Mthatha took to the streets last week to protest about what they call a debacle in the government-funded scholar transport system meant to ferry their children to school.
Angry parents and learners blockaded the Langeni Pass on the R412 which branches off the R61, connecting Ugie and Mthatha, to express their dissatisfaction. They have threatened to block the busy R61 between Mthatha and Ngcobo should government not revert to the number of scholar transport buses that were operating in their area last year.
As things stand, parents say their children must walk over 20 kilometres to and from school following the cutting of budget meant for scholar transport, which meant that only one bus of the three that were operating last year, was made available to ferry their children to school.
Parents say this has had huge financial implications for them, as they must spend R800 a month for their children to take a taxi to and from school, while those learners who must walk to school arrive late and miss out on morning classes.
Most of the parents told Mthatha Express that they were dependent on social grants to survive, with many dependent on the R350 social relief of distress grant, introduced to support low-income individuals affected by lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The cutting of the number of buses that were ferrying our children to and from school is really frustrating for us, because government did not even take us into their confidence before taking such a decision. I must sacrifice my R350 grant and my grandchild’s child support grant, which is my only source of income, to make sure that they attend school,” said one grandparent who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another parent and local headman, Mandisi Jonga, said
All learners affected attend Jumba Senior Secondary School in Tabase Village which, despite being over 10 kilometers away from disgruntled learners and parents, is the only and closest high school to them.
Eastern Cape Department of Transport, which is responsible for the scholar transport programme, acknowledged that budget cuts have meant some learners who previously benefited from the programme were excluded, but said the decision on which learner gets to be ferried to school was a responsibility of the provincial Department of Education.
“I must say that due to budget cuts the department had to readjust the number of learners who benefit from the scholar transport programme. However, as the department we rely on the Department of Education to give us the number of learners to be ferried to schools,” said provincial Department of Transport spokesperson, Unathi Binqose.
Binqose added that the department was working at ensuring that every learner who qualifies for scholar transport gets ferried to school.
Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima, however, said they only provide the number of learners to the Department of Transport according to the department’s criteria and policy as a custodian of the programme.
