'Government playing Russian roulette with school children's lives'

"Government is playing Russian roulette with the lives of these children. What it does is when you don't pay for the transport, they [pupils] are forced to make their own way to school."

This is according to Legal Resources Centre Right to Read (R2R) campaign head Cameron McConnachie on the non-payment of scholar transport service providers in Mpumalanga, which has left children stranded and unable to get to school.

"This means travelling long distances, often on unsafe roads. Learners are subjected to many more violent situations. Sometimes there's a lot more robbery, sexual assault... Learners often have to miss school or they're forced to use transport that is often unsafe and often unroadworthy, with very little government oversight regarding how many kids are in the vehicle," he said.

"This has a devastating impact on the learners' ability to access school and their right to basic education. It seems to be particularly prevalent towards the end of a financial year. So it makes sense that January, February, March is the end of the financial year, provincial department budgets have been depleted and they're unable to pay."

McConnachie said this also happens in the Eastern Cape and the courts had ruled that providing transport to qualifying pupils was part of the right to basic education. "Failure to provide [and] pay for the transport is definitely a breach of the province's obligations." 

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