The ongoing failure to resolve contractual disputes and pay transport operators has driven the system into crisis, with devastating consequences for learners says the DA. The party this week called on the MEC for Education, Dr Maboya, to immediately restore scholar transport across the Free State Province.

More than 10 000 learners were unable to attend school on the first day of the second term due to the collapse of scholar transport services. Transport operators, who have not received any payment since January, are now expected to wait yet another month. This is not only unacceptable, but directly impacts and violates learners’ rights to basic education, the DA said.

During the recent adjustment budget debates, the DA warned that the Department’s budget allocation is inadequate and unsustainable.

“The impact is most severe on learners from rural and farming communities, where local schools have been shut down, and transport is the only means of accessing education. Denying these learners transport is effectively denying them an education, condemning them to a future of poverty and limited opportunity.”