Durban - KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Education, Kwazi Mshengu, has confirmed that a task team has been set up to look into cases where pupils have been forced to cross rivers to get to school.
Mshengu said that a task team has been formed to audit the whole province in relation to any similar cases and will be reporting to the Head of Department on a weekly basis.
"Owing to the poor economic conditions and underdevelopment of many rural parts of the province, our pupils in those areas still have to travel long and dangerous distances in order to access education. Over the past years, the department has resolved a number of cases where pupils had to cross rivers in order to reach schools. In these cases, the department has provided scholar transport for affected pupils," he said.
He was commenting following an article by The Mercury last week showing pupils having to cross raging rivers twice a day to get to and from school
Mshengu said the Department of Education in KZN recognised the right to access to education for every child as guaranteed by the constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
He said to this extent, the department is enjoined, within the available means, to ensure that all children have unhampered access to education.
KZN is largely rural and most of its school-going children reside in rural areas.
"In some cases, the department had to procure ferry boats which became non viable to use whenever the levels of water decrease. For the department to provide effective scholar transport, it would require about R1 billion which is not available as the department only get R218 million grant from the National Department of Basic Education," he said.
Mshengu said the shortage of funds renders the department unable to provide scholar transport to all deserving pupils across the length and breadth of the province. With the available funding, the department is only able to provide scholar transport to 58 908 learners.
"We however continue to engage both National Treasury and Provincial Treasury with an aim of securing more funds to expand the service to more needy learners who are currently not benefitting," Mshengu said.
He said subsequent to photos showing pupils crossing the rivers which have been circulating both in the mainstream and social media, he convened an urgent meeting of affected districts and the following are interventions made by the department.
In uMzinyathi District there are 53 pupils in two schools, which are Mbizimbelwe Primary and Phathizwe High School. The department has made provision for scholar transport to be provided to these pupils. In uMgungundlovu District, there are 93 pupils in two schools. At Mphelandaba High School - 35 pupils will be accommodated in Matatane high school while at Khamanzi Primary School - 58 pupils will be accommodated in Dalton Primary School.
"The funding for these interventions will be sourced from the re-prioritization process which means there are initial projects that the department had committed to do which will now no longer be fulfilled. It was the considered view of the MEC that resolving these cases is a top priority in order to avoid any possible fatalities," Mshengu said.
MEC Mshengu has further impressed upon Circuit and District Managers to ensure that they report on such and similar cases timeously.
The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal will continue to collaborate with the Department of Transport to find lasting solutions which will include, amongst others, lobbying the Department of Transport of prioritize building bridges that connect our learners with schools.