The Eastern Cape High Court has found that the government is legally bound to transport needy pupils living at least 5km from school as part of its constitutional obligation to provide education. But the Department of Basic Education says this is financially impossible.On Friday Judge Clive Plasket ruled in a case involving 170 pupils that "in instances where scholars' access to school is hindered by distance and an inability to afford the costs of transport, the state is obliged to provide transport to them to meet its obligations." He ordered the department to provide transport to some of the pupils by July 20 and to reevaluate its decision to deny others by month-end.The Legal Resources Centre, on behalf of a father, his three children and almost 170 pupils, took the department to court to ask why they had been excluded from the scholar transport programme.It is the Eastern Cape's provincial education policy to provide transport to needy children who walk 5km or more to school and who might have to travel through dangerous areas.The pupils had applied for transport but had been rejected.A week after the court application , which the national and provincial departments opposed, a Grade 10 pupil, an applicant in the case, was raped on her way home from school.Lawyer Cameron McConachie said: "Hopefully, other education departments will take note of the judgment and ensure that pupils who qualify for transport are provided with it."But Basic Education Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said the department was financially incapable of providing transport for all pupils who lived 5km or further from school."There are court orders. But then the department gets allocated money from the Treasury. Demands on education are also increasing."In court papers it was noted that the provincial education department had more than doubled its scholar transport budget in four years - from R210-million in 2011 to R432-million in 2015 - to transport the same number of pupils...