Dangerous long walk to learning

Thousands of pupils in rural areas still walk long distances to school in dangerous circumstances, according to a report to the education portfolio committee yesterday.

That was one of the challenges plaguing the education system, Equal Education Law Centre said in a joint report.

They submitted a report on the Department of Basic Education’s 2013/2014 annual report to the education portfolio committee parliament yesterday.

Though positive developments in education during the last financial year were acknowledged, the report highlighted issues that require urgent attention.

These include school infrastructure, provision of scholar transport, underperforming schools and intervention in the Eastern Cape after the province was placed under national administration in 2011.

The absence of a national policy on the provision of scholar transport is said to be to the “detriment” of pupils.

The report claimed it had been more than five years since parliament’s research unit recommended that the departments work on providing transport for pupils.

Law Centre executive director Dmitri Holtzman said: “Many thousands of pupils in rural areas are still walking long and dangerous distances and routes to get to school.”

The NGO welcomed the department’s introduction of regulations on the minimum uniform norms and standards for school infrastructure, but identified  there was an urgent need for basic services like water and electricity in some schools.

The report  called for the department to clearly identify and address underperforming schools by complying with section 58b of the Schools Act.

Holtzman said there was a “major gap” in targeted interventions aimed at addressing underperforming schools as mandated by the act.

 “These are rural and township schools, mostly in very poor communities, that  suffer from serious school management issues and require urgent teacher-training interventions, as well as far more basic teaching and learning resources.”