Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport wants safer transport for learners, and soon. It has called on the Department of Transport to urgently finalise the policy on getting children to school.
The Department’s Transport Policy and Economic Regulation branch appeared before Parliament this week to brief the Committee on the current status of scholar transport as well as the proposed national scholar transport policy. The policy promotes safe transportation for school learners.
During the presentation, the department admitted that because scholar transport was not regulated unlicensed drivers in non-roadworthy vehicles frequently transported children to school.
“It is unfair for these children to be transported like sardines,” said Chairperson Ruth Bhengu.
The department says 76% of South African learners walk to school, and at least 560 000 scholars have to walk more than an hour to get there. KwaZulu-Natal has the highest percentage of children who walk to school every day, followed by the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the North West. Committee members said this was unacceptable because it infringed on the rights of children.
Members were upset that the proposed policy had taken more than three years to draft. The department said the delay was as a result of a discussion on whether the implementation should reside with the Department of Transport, or the Department of Education. A meeting between the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Basic Education was still needed to iron out some of the policy issues. The meeting would advise on the possible migration of scholar transport functions from the Department of Basic Education to the Department of Transport.
Following this meeting, the draft policy would be submitted to different Cabinet clusters and gazetted for public participation, after which it would be implemented. The Committee requested that it should provide input before the draft policy was circulated.
Source: Parliament of South Africa
