BOPHELONG.- Learners from as far as the Emfuleni Local Municipality and Midvaal areas were denied access to learning and teaching for weeks recently.

This follows an ongoing dispute between the old provider and the newly appointed scholar transport service provider. Since the tender was issued, the learners have since continued to miss out on the much-needed schooling every day. The Interim Transport Committee agreed at a parents meeting held at the Asedi community centre on 2 May that learners using the buses to Parksig Primary, Dinokaneng and Ramosukela Farm Schools should stop using those buses. Parents complained that the buses were not in a proper condition. They said that two buses use the same registration and they are not roadworthy.

The drivers were accused of dropping the learners at the wrong areas. The issues of the language and that they come from as far as Limpopo and KZN provinces was also a concern. Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow Minister for Education said that for the past weeks some of the learners have been severely impacted as parents cannot afford to pay for alternative transport. Due to the strikes learners were forced to walk vast distances to and from school. Ramulifho said this also caused learners to miss school because of the department’s failure to urgently intervene and ensure that essential services are not disrupted. The DA promised to engage with MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi for immediate intervention.

“Delays to solve this scholar transport dispute are denying learners their basic right to education.
“This is as good as robbing them of future opportunities,” said Ramulifho.