The third term is drawing to a close, but for almost six months 160 pupils at a primary school in Clarkson have been sitting at home because of a scholar transport bungle.
Clarkson Primary pupils from grade 1 to grade 7 watch their peers climb into buses, bakkies and taxis every day, but for them, there will be no school.
The pupils live on surrounding farms, with some 40km from Clarkson Primary, making it impossible for them to walk to school.
On Wednesday, 15 pupils and their parents camped out at the bus stop hoping the Eastern Cape education and transport departments would finally get their act together.
Again, it was not to be.
Clarkson is in the Kou-Kamma municipality, near Humansdorp.
The school had a similar problem in 2019, when pupils sat at home for more than five months due to the transport department’s budget constraints.
Their parents, who work on the nearby farms, mostly earn only R3,000 a month and are unable to pay for transport costs.
No-one has come forward with a clear response on what is going on and the school year is wrapping up. It is just not fair that these pupils must suffer.”
— Mhlangabezi Mxobo, Parent
Mhlangabezi Mxobo, 51, who has two children enrolled at the school, said parents were left with only two choices: “We must either buy food for our families or pay to send our children to school.”
Mxobo said transportation would cost about R600 a month, almost a quarter of his salary.
“No-one has come forward with a clear response on what is going on and the school year is wrapping up.
“It is just not fair that these pupils must suffer,” he said.
The 15 pupils live on Geelhoutboom Farm.
There was previously a school on the land but it closed down, necessitating that the pupils attend Clarkson Primary.
In 2021, there were no problems with the scholar transport until the driver died.
His daughter then took over the business.
However, in May 2022, the transport department put a stop to her ferrying the pupils as she was not registered.
Apologising for the delay, department spokesperson Unathi Binqose said a new driver would be on the road in two weeks’ time.
“We had to follow the proper procedure to secure someone credible and deliver on the mandate of ferrying the pupils to the school.”
But parents are not convinced this will happen.
Amos Swarts, 51, said the department acted like their children did not exist.
“We are the forgotten residents of this country and only remembered on voting day.
“They are able to provide buses when they need us to vote but then fail to provide transport for our children,” he said.
He said the farm owners were also complaining as the children roamed around during the day instead of being at school.
“This will lead our children to drugs and crime because they have nothing else to do.”
The school’s governing body (SGB) chair, Jenny Jeftha, feared the children would soon give up on school.
“I don’t know how many times the SGB and teachers have reported this matter to the department of transport and nothing is being done about it,” she said.
She said a total of 160 pupils missed out on school every day due to the transport issues.
“We did close the school at one point to show our dissatisfaction, but nothing changed.
“The children are suffering and we live in a poverty-stricken area,” Jeftha said.
At the bus stop on Wednesday, the pupils walked around in their school uniforms hopeful that a driver would arrive.
This scenario has played out for months: the children wait and no-one arrives.
“Every weekend, my friends tell me about all the stuff I am missing out at school,” one pupil said.
Another said he was desperate to return to school.
“I wish they could just open our old school again,” he said.
Education expert Prof Susan van Rensburg said the department had breached the pupils’ basic constitutional rights in failing to give them access to education.
She said the provincial government should already have made a backup plan.
“This is a major problem for the affected children.
“It’s unfortunate that there are teachers willing to teach but no-one is there.”
She said the pupils would be at a disadvantage having to catch up with such a large workload.
Another parent, Maria Leander, 52, said her grade 7 child would never be able to catch up.
“At the end of this year, we will have children who attended school for four months.
“This is a concern because we don’t know whether this problem will ever be solved.”
Mpumelelo Williams, 50, said he was forced to find his son another school and now only saw him once a month.
“But I need him to get an education even though that has broken our family structure.”
Education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima did not respond to a request for comment.
HeraldLIVE
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