A Grahamstown principal has warned that hundreds of pupils will simply miss the first term, after the provincial education department announced it would not provide transport for them until April.
A Grahamstown principal has warned that hundreds of pupils will simply miss the first term, after the provincial education department announced it would not provide transport for them until April.
St Mary's Primary School principal Abraham Vanuvught said most of the children at his school lived in Extensions 9 and 6 and relied heavily on the subsidised transport. Dozens of pupils had been left stranded when school opened this week, or had to walk long distances to get there, he said, and attendance would be affected until the programme was resumed.
A Joza high school principal, who did not want to be named, told Grocott's Mail that children from surrounding areas, such as Peddie and neighbouring farms, would have to walk to school, or hitch-hike. He said some of these pupils might have to move to Grahamstown to be closer to school.
CM Vellem Primary School principal, Nontombi Mphahlwa-Mene, said this was their first experience of being without the much-needed transport and she wasn't sure how it would affect attendance.
The district office, she said, had told them that transport would be available only for children who lived in rural areas. "We haven't received anything that says when this transport suspension will end," she said.
The department's provincial spokesperson, Loyiso Pulumani, said the pupils' transport programme had been suspended because the department's budget was "overheating" to such an extent that they were currently faced with an over-expenditure of R1.2billion.
This, said Pulumani, had forced them to scale down on non-core items, to prevent learning and teaching being adversely affected.
"For instance, the department required R214 million just to continue with the scholar transport programme up to the end of the financial year. Unfortunately those funds are just not available now," he said.
Pulumani also said Superintendent General Modidima Mannya had granted a special exemption for farm-school pupils, due to the long distances they had to cover.
Responding to a question about the widely publicised late delivery of textbooks, Pulumani said, "The HoD has travelled the length and breadth of the province, convening meetings with principals and district officials. Pupils will either benefit from excess stock from last year, or continue using notebooks from last year until deliveries are finalised – hopefully, by the end of the month."
