Villagers battle with transport costs to get scores of pupils to school
Poor families going hungry, children dropping out as department fails them
Since last year, parents of scores of pupils from Gabazi village in Qumbu have been forced to pay more than R200 each month to transport their children to schools in town, nearly 20km from their homes.
The struggle is heightened by the fact that most of the parents depend on social grants and doing odd jobs to survive.
On Tuesday, the villagers told the Dispatch they were having to cut back on food to pay bakkies to ferry their children to school.
They said more than 40 pupils at Maqhutyana and Qumbu village high schools and Little Flower Primary School had been affected.
Qumbu village pupils in particular have not been ferried by vehicles contracted by the department of transport since the beginning of the year.
Village headman Siphumeze Nontwana, a pensioner, is already forking out money to transport three children.
“There are eight more children in primary school that I am worried about.
“How will I pay for their transport to school when the time comes?
“The road here is so bad that when it rains, children do not go to school,” he said.
Thengela Yimpi, who chairs the school transport in Gabazi and surrounding villages, said their children had been provided with transport to school until 2020.
He said since then parents had been forced to cover travel fees while making efforts for the transport department to bring back scholar transport.
“When Covid-19 started and children were going to school in groups, we learnt that the transport contracts for children attending school at Qumbu Village High School was not renewed.
“Also, the number of children approved for transportation was few. We have been using bakkies because the transport provided for us has never accommodated
We do not need to know who failed, between the education and transport [departments] as they are blaming each other now. What we need is a solution
all of them.
“We went to the provincial office last week to get answers. Our question is, how are our children supposed to go to schools that are so far away? The distance is nearly 18km and they cannot walk there.
“We do not need to know who failed between the education and transport departments, as they are blaming each other now. What we need is a solution because our children are suffering,” he said.
Nosimlindile Veni, an unemployed mother of two children in high school, said he depended on odd jobs to pay for their transport. “When I do not have the money, I am forced to borrow money. We are struggling and this makes things worse.
“We are asking the government to provide our children with scholar transport.
“We are saddened by this because our children want to be educated but this is making things difficult for them.”
Nelson Vula said more than 20 children had dropped out of school since last year.
“Many families here are destitute, and some parents could no longer pay as some of the children are aged beyond the qualification to receive grants.
“Our fear as these children are dropping out is that the cycle of poverty will continue.
“Our hope is on education, and that it will change our lives. The way the transport department is doing thing is not satisfying at all.”
Provincial transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose said 20 pupils from Little Flower, 115 from Qumbu Village and 30 from Maqhutyana were being transported.
“There are operators who transport learners without being contracted by the department. These operators were told they had to stop the services because the department was not going to be able to pay non-contracted operators.
“The department has embarked on learner verification and is busy analysing the data.
“If there are learners on the ground as per the verification report, scholar transport will consider providing transport to these learners,” he said.