South African school learners have been faced with the harsh reality of fewer classrooms, overcrowding and the lack of scholarly transport to help them commute to their schools. A learner movement has taken steps to call on relevant governmental departments to treat these issues with urgency.
Equal Education (EE) has called on the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Department to prevent learners of Esikhumbuzweni Secondary from having to cross a river to get to school.
Another government department that was under the spotlight is the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Education Department, which also called to make repairs to school classrooms in the province.
In a statement, Equal Education said:
We are extremely distressed that learners of Esikhumbuzweni Secondary in Nquthu are often unable to get to school because there is no road infrastructure that makes it possible to safely cross the river that is along their way.
However, the learner movement has urged the Transport Department to urgently build a bridge across the river nearby the school, so that the buses provided by KZN Education can be able to safely transport learners to school.
School governing body (SGB) member Thomas Khumalo shared that this is a longstanding problem at this school.
It is said that at one point, KZN Education could not deliver exam papers to the school because the roads were in such a bad state, and the affected learners had to write their exams at another school because they too could not reach their school.
According to reports, KZN Education finalized and released a learner transport policy in 2021. This comes after 13 years that Equal Education has been advocating for safe transport to be provided by the government, for all learners walking far distances to school in Nquthu and throughout the province.
EE also touched on the matter of dilapidated school infrastructure and has called on the Provincial Education Department to address this matter, urgently.
As per the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure every school ought to have water, electricity, internet, working toilets, safe classrooms, security, and thereafter libraries, laboratories, and sports facilities.
Education activists have also highlighted the importance of such facilities, as learners will be able to learn in environments with adequate infrastructure.