“No legislation forces schools to provide transport for learners”

“The responsibility of transport remains the responsibility of parents.”

This statement was made by Edenvale resident Cathy Callaghan in response to the NEWS’ front page article “Anyone with a Quantum can pick kids up”, published on June 21.

Callaghan says there is no legislation which forces schools to provide transport for learners who attend the school.

“Parents choose the school for their children. Usually these schools are close to where the parents live. It is not the responsibility of the school or the school governing body to check who the drivers collecting the children are. It is definitely not the duty of the school or the school governing body to do security checks on anyone who transports or drops off or collects children from their school,” she added.

Callaghan added that this was her understanding.

“A school does not have the onus to provide learner transport. The R500 suggested (by Thompson in the article published) will not cover the costs of a bus. Some parents can’t pay this amount, others won’t pay, and then the school fees will have to go up by R500,” she said.

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The grandmother also pointed out that there were costs and other implications with regards to a school obtaining and operating a transport service.

“The school bus would need to be bought for schools that do not have one, would also need to be serviced, a driver would have to be paid and security would have to be factored in.”

“The responsibility of transport remains the responsibility of parents,” she stated.

“Schools cannot look after children who hang around unsupervised for hours outside schools, which is very dangerous. Parents need to ensure children are collected on time.”

She also pointed out that parents have an obligation to see to it that the transport their children travel in is safe.

“The transport should be roadworthy and the driver should have a PDP licence. Parents should ensure that the transport must arrive on time for the start of the school day and after school or after extramural activities.”

Callaghan said that extramural activities was another issue that needed to be addressed for children using transport services.

“Transport must return for the children and allow them to do extramural activities so as to allow them to fully benefit from the school programmes.”

She advised parents to send their children to the closest school to where they stay.

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