Vhembe community appeals to dept to restore bus service
Concerned parents have appealed to the department to restore the bus service that used to transport children to and from the school.
LIMPOPO – The alleged failure by the Department of Education to provide transport to learners from Malale village is putting young lives at risk, residents from the village claim.
Community members have appealed to the department to restore the bus service that used to transport children to and from the school.
The parents said that the bus service had been suspended since January 28, which resulted in their children being unable to attend school for the past three weeks.
One of the parents, Elekanyani Nemalale, furthermore claimed that some of the buses previously sent to collect the children were not in a roadworthy condition.
He explained that their children had to travel 20 kilometres to the nearest school, which is situated in Tshiungani village.
“Since the end of January, the buses stopped arriving at the village to pick up the children. We called the officer in the Department of Education who is responsible for school transport, Matanga, but he couldn’t give us a satisfactory explanation.”
He said it is often the situation that children get robbed on their way to school when they have to walk long distances from the hostel to the school.
A learner who wished to remain anonymous said that they did not feel safe when walking to school. “Every time when we walk to school, something happens. There was one time when a boy was beaten up by some other boys when we were on our way back from school.”
The girl said criminals once chased after them. “If we have phones and money, they take these. We know that it is risky to travel long distances through the bushes, but we don’t have a choice as learning is also important,” she said.
Department of Education director of special projects, Matamela Matanga, said an increase of learners in the area created a problem with the provision of transport. “We approached the service provider to add some more buses to the route, but discovered that these buses were not roadworthy. We are positive that the problems in arranging transport would be sorted out before the end of the week.”
