Pupils stranded as transport fails in North West

By Patrick Makinita

Concerned community leader Goodwin Maphutse

Dozens of pupils in villages outside Mahikeng in the North West are missing out on education after years of failed scholar transport, leaving some without teachers, classrooms or basic learning materials.

While schools across the country have begun the first term of the academic year, pupils from Kagiso Barolong High School in Logageng village have been left roaming the streets or sitting idle in overcrowded classrooms. Some have reportedly dropped out altogether.

The crisis follows a decision by parents to remove pupils from Kagiso Barolong High School and place them at Tsosoloso Intermediate Primary School in nearby Moshawaneng village, citing the North West Department of Education’s failure to provide scholar transport for the past three years.

The parents stated that their children are required to travel approximately 10km to reach Kagiso Barolong High School, and that transport operators have withdrawn their services due to poor road conditions and non-payment.

As a result, some pupils were unable to sit for their final examinations.

Community leader Goodwin Maphutse said repeated attempts to engage government departments had yielded no results.

“For the past three years, our children have been going through difficult times, and the situation is frustrating. We tried our level best to seek intervention from various departments involved, but they have been sending us from pillar to post.

“The government promised to build a school for our children here in Moshawaneng, but up to this moment, nothing has been done. As parents, we had no choice but to stop learners from attending school at Logageng and placed them at a school at Moshawaneng because the school is situated locally.

“ Maybe this will send a strong message to those accountable because we are tired of empty promises. Either they send a scholar transport, or they send teachers and stationery to the school where we took our children to.”

However, the School Governing Body (SGB) at Tsosoloso Intermediate Primary School said it cannot accommodate the additional pupils.

SGB representative Ditiro Letsomo said the school was already struggling with severe overcrowding and lacked the capacity to absorb more pupils.

“Parents’ decision to bring their children to our school makes things difficult for learners because they are doing nothing as the is no teachers and study materials. We are having only one class, and learners are about 130, which causes overcrowding. Even if the department of education can deploy teachers, it’s not going be easy. We therefore plead with those responsible to come up with a permanent solution to this matter.”

The North West Department of Community Safety and Transport referred all questions to the Department of Education.

Department spokesperson Oshebeng Koonyaditse said it still needed to be confirmed whether the affected schools qualified for scholar transport.

“At times, parents confuse their own arranged transport with scholar transport. There are factors that are considered for a scholar transport like the distance between the school and the home of learners. Learners whose parents had chosen to take them to a particular school when there is a school in the vicinity are not considered ‘needy’ However, I will confirm with our officials if they are aware of these challenges,” said Koonyaditse.

North West Education spokesperson Elias Malindi is yet to respond to our media enquiry.