Pupils wait to board a bus. Equal Education says they are not happy with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s (DOE) decision to slash the already trimmed scholar transport budget by R193 million. Picture: file
Durban — Equal Education says it is not happy with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s (DOE’s) decision to slash the already trimmed scholar transport budget by R193 million.
The DOE cut the scholar transport budget from R457m to R266m for the coming financial year. Equal Education junior organiser Tiny Lebelo said that of the almost 300 000 pupils that need transport, only 80 000 are being serviced.
Lebelo said this budget cut is “extremely negative”, considering that in May the Department of Basic Education released a report on the need for transport.
“With this budget cut, there are more pupils that are not going to have accessibility to scholar transport, which means we are going to have more pupils who are going to walk long distances to school and then we are going to have a higher rate of absenteeism,” Lebelo said.
“We are going to have higher dropout rates because pupils are going to be coming into class already fatigued because of walking long distances as well.”
She said this would have a negative impact on pupils and their right to access education.
Lebelo said that the DOE should set aside and ring-fence money for programmes such as scholar transport. “These programmes helps us in bridging the gap in the inequality that is in the rural provinces,” she said.
Meanwhile, KZN ActionSA provincial chairperson Zwakele Mncwango said that this move by the department would undoubtedly compound challenges already placed on pupils who live in rural areas and walk long distances to and from school each day.
“Currently, over 157 000 pupils require scholar transport, and with budget cuts, access to education will be severely impacted for many pupils across the province. With this new development, one has to keep in mind that the DOE plans to permanently close more than 900 schools, which they have classified as non-viable schools in the province, mostly affecting schools in rural communities,” said Mncwango.
He said the party would also be writing to the provincial Treasury, calling on them to collaborate with the DOE to re-evaluate the decision to implement the budget cuts.
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said there was no budget cut specifically set for scholar transport, however all government departments have been given a budget that will best accommodate everyone.
“It is not true that the DOE is cutting the scholar transport budget, the provincial Treasury has cut according to the percentage across the board.”
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