Pupils from Morrisdale Primary in Ceres started the school year in comfort this week — with a bus waiting to take them home, courtesy of the local mayor.
Some pupils had been left stranded by a change to the Western Cape's free bus service that now excludes pupils living less than 5km from their school. This prompted a protest outside the school earlier in the week, and a 4.3km walk to school for many pupils and their parents on Wednesday morning — the first day of the new school year.
Witzenberg mayor Trevor Abrahams secured a temporary sponsor for school transport, which saw affected Morrisdale pupils back on the bus by Wednesday afternoon.
“We have already secured funding for three weeks and are in the process to lobby funding for another six months. The current funding is coming from the private energy sector,” Abrahams said.
The sponsored bus — the identify of the sponsor is still unknown — is only a temporary reprieve, and parents fear their children could soon be walking again without a permanent transport solution. Many parents — and some grandparents — had been forced to accompany their children on the walk due to fears for the children's safety.
“We woke up at 5am and left the house and 6.30am — the Western Cape education department has not listened to us since last August, these children had to walk,” Thandokazi Siko told the Sunday Times during a visit to the area on Wednesday.
The current budget for learner transport is R598,542,000
— Bronagh Hammond, Western Cape education department spokesperson
Siko was forced to carry her daughter to her first day of grade 1 on Wednesday morning. “Some children live with their grandmothers who cannot take them to school or fetch them. Another risk factor is while walking down on the main road to get to the area where the school is located there is a big empty grass field so it is extremely dangerous for them, especially for the young girls who we fear might get raped.”
Pensioner Dora Lingefeldt, who lives in Vredebes, had to wait for her grandson in grade 5 as his mother was at work. Despite her age, she walks with him as it is unsafe for him to walk alone.
“My grandson cannot walk alone, if I had to stay at home and he doesn’t return from school what would I do?
“This morning when we left, he started to cry because he was afraid that he would be late for school and would not get placed in a class, but I explained to him that he would get to school on time.”
The 67-year-old said she tired quickly due to her age and needed regular breaks in the shade along the road. But the trip was necessary to allow her daughter to work and to ensure her grandson's safety.
GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron welcomed the mayor's intervention this week but said it was a short-term solution to an administrative mistake.
“The mayor and the municipality are not responsible for learner transport and their intervention and this service is unsustainable and unenforceable. It is a welcome short-term intervention while the MEC for education considers the appeals, lodged on behalf of the affected families by Equal Education,” said Herron.
“No adult in a position of responsibility like the MEC or his spokesperson should get away with expecting a primary school child to walk eight or nine kilometres each day to get to and from school. I am confident as parents they would never contemplate sending their seven-year-old child off on that kind of treacherous journey each day,” Herron said.
The GOOD Party has previously raised concerns about the Morrisdale pupils, saying it was unfair they should walk to school because their community is “200m short of qualifying for free transport laid on by the Western Cape education department”.
Herron said he was shocked to hear that police had evicted parents from the peaceful protest at Morrisdale Primary School on Monday. “Calling the police flies in the face of minister for education David Maynier’s promise, at an education committee meeting on November 29 that his department would engage with parents to find a solution.”
“The children don’t just walk to school, they risk life and limb, navigating ganglands and crossing highways.”
Western Cape education department (WCED) spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said budgetary constraints prevented the department from increasing the learner transport scheme.
“Reconsideration of the kilometre threshold would require additional funds. This would be costly considering that it would affect various routes across the province. The current budget for learner transport is R598,542,000.”
She said the route was still operational, with about 250 approved Morrisdale learners receiving transportation in terms of their transport policy. “The WCED has engaged with the principal to advise with regards to the application for travel subsidies and has also suggested that the community should establish structures like walking busses to assist learners who are in walking distance from the school. This has been successfully implemented in other areas,” said Hammond.
