Learner transport policy is leaving our children behind
There is a severe lack of reliable statistics on how many learners require transport to school and on how many vehicles, used to transport learners, are in fact roadworthy.
This was revealed at today’s presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education by the Department of Transport.
The DA will seek a meeting with the Director Generals (DG) of the Departments of Basic Education and Transport to submit our proposals on how the current policy can be amended to include the learners who are currently deprived of transport to their places of learning.
At this meeting the DA will also reiterate our call to refine the Learner Transport policy so it actually addresses the needs of learners and that the policy not be gazetted until this is done.
In its presentation, the Department of Transport claims only 1% of learners in the Free State, 2% in Limpopo and only 3% of learners in KwaZulu-Natal require transport. Intuitively, this cannot be right. This means that learners who require transport to get to school, are being left behind.