Four Eastern Cape schools have resorted to court in a far-reaching application to force the provincial government to provide transport to and from school for all pupils who qualify.
The department recently indicated to the Daily Dispatch that it could afford to provide scholar transport to only 57 000 of the 94 000 pupils who met its criteria for scholar transport.
It is believed that the number qualifying for scholar transport could be even far higher.
Mdantsane senior secondary schools Masivuyiswe‚ SK Mahlangu‚ Sakhisizwe‚ and Mizamo High School‚ represented by the Legal Resources Centre in Grahamstown‚ said that government was denying these pupils their fundamental right to access to education.
“While access to education obviously includes an obligation on the state to provide teachers‚ learning materials and safe infrastructure – before any of that can be enjoyed by pupils they must be at school‚” the schools said in papers before the Grahamstown High Court.
Bathini Dyantyi‚ chairperson of the tripartite steering committee that represents three of the four schools‚ said in an affidavit that the scholar transport programme in the Eastern Cape had a history of being poorly managed‚ plagued by tender disputes‚ riddled with corruption and under-resourced.
He says his own three teenage children who attended the SK Mahlangu Senior Secondary School walked over 6km a day through fields‚ bushy areas‚ a small forest and a graveyard.
They leave home just before 6am every day and only arrive at school at 7.45 am‚ two hours later.
EC schools take government to court over scholar transport
The department recently indicated to the Daily Dispatch that it could afford to provide scholar transport to only 57 000 of the 94 000 pupils who met its criteria for scholar transport.
It is believed that the number qualifying for scholar transport could be even far higher.
Mdantsane senior secondary schools Masivuyiswe‚ SK Mahlangu‚ Sakhisizwe‚ and Mizamo High School‚ represented by the Legal Resources Centre in Grahamstown‚ said that government was denying these pupils their fundamental right to access to education.
“While access to education obviously includes an obligation on the state to provide teachers‚ learning materials and safe infrastructure – before any of that can be enjoyed by pupils they must be at school‚” the schools said in papers before the Grahamstown High Court.
Bathini Dyantyi‚ chairperson of the tripartite steering committee that represents three of the four schools‚ said in an affidavit that the scholar transport programme in the Eastern Cape had a history of being poorly managed‚ plagued by tender disputes‚ riddled with corruption and under-resourced.
He says his own three teenage children who attended the SK Mahlangu Senior Secondary School walked over 6km a day through fields‚ bushy areas‚ a small forest and a graveyard.
They leave home just before 6am every day and only arrive at school at 7.45 am‚ two hours later.
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