Parents, pupils protest over lack of scholar transport
Learners who receive their secondary education at Tshianane Secondary School in Makushu near Musina are back in class after missing several days of learning due to a protest.
LIMPOPO – This comes after the Department of Education supplied buses to transport learners to the school, which the learners were protesting for over the course of last week.
The angry parents of the learners at the school had decided their children shouldn’t attend school as they fear for their safety. Before the department could provide scholar buses, learners had to walk for more than 10km every day in order to reach the school, the only school in the area.
The protest by the learners, and their parents started last Monday after a gr. 9 pupil, Patricia Hlongwane (16) was hospitalised after being attacked on her way from school.
“Even though we are happy with the two buses which have been provided, we still need more buses to accommodate everyone as we are from different villages,” said Mpfariseni Musekwa.
He further said: “Our dream is to see these villages one day having their own schools, as at the moment they only have primary schools and it’s not fair for learners to have to travel long distance in order to get to school each day”.
Fed-up parents who had started the protest said their children were being attacked and robbed daily on their way to and from the school.
The Spokesperson for Education, Dr Naledzani Rasila, who had previously promised that the buses would be provided before last Friday, said: “We supplied the local villages with two buses which will help to transport the learners on a daily basis as we value the importance of our kids’ education”.
