Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga wants to know why so many children have died on South African roads on their way to school.

She has asked the country's nine education MECs to get to the bottom of "the problem".

This comes after a taxi carrying 11 school children overturned in Cape Town yesterday, a week after a taxi carrying school children collided with a train, killing 10 of the youngsters, also in the Western Cape.

Motshekga's spokesman, Hope Mokgatlhe, said education MECs throughout the country were grappling with the issue. "The minister met with the MECs of all nine provinces to discuss pupils' transport. It is a big problem in the country, and she has instructed them to check exactly who are transporting children to schools," said Mokgatlhe.

She said that school transport was monitored by the local departments, which reported to Motshekga.

Yesterday's big taxi crash happened at 7am in Cape Town's Bishop Lavis township. Police spokesman Captain Marie Louw said that no children died, but two were taken to hospital.

The children, aged between six and 19, were travelling to Islamia College in Lansdowne when the driver lost control.

"He said the traffic light was amber, and he braked to avoid crashing into the vehicle in front of him. The road was wet, and the taxi landed on its roof," she said.

The 45-year-old driver was arrested for reckless and negligent driving.

Furious Western Cape transport MEC Robin Carlisle ordered an immediate investigation. By 3pm, officials had established that the vehicle was not certified to carry passengers.

The Western Cape spends R160-million a year on transporting children to and from school, mainly in poor areas.

"I am going to meet with education MEC Donald Grant," Carlisle said.

"We are going to look at who is taking children to school, and whether they meet all the requirements. We are going to address the matter of children being transported on the backs of bakkies. We would like to see if additional regulations [are] needed," he said.

Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele called on his officials to speed up work on the Scholar Transport Policy.

"The policy recognises the need to bring a uniform approach in the transportation of scholars. It cuts across all issues pertaining to rural development, economic development, transport safety and land transport as a whole," said his spokesman, Logan Maistry.

Maistry said the transport system did not meet the needs of pupils, especially in rural areas. The challenge "is that there is no uniform approach across provinces on learner transportation", he said.