KZN education department offices covered in ‘walking children’

11 July 2017 - 18:53 By Matthew Savides
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Image: Picture: ALAN EASON

The walls of the KwaZulu-Natal education department offices in Pietermaritzburg were on Tuesday covered with the plight of school children from rural KZN.

About 30 pupils - including two who featured in the movie - were present at the screening on a chilly evening in the province's capital.

The film will be screened outside Durban's city hall on Wednesday.

Equal Education last month lodged a court case against the KZN government‚ demanding that they supply scholar transport to thousands of children across the province. The focus area has been Nquthu‚ in the far north of KZN.

While the organisation claimed significant victories in the fight to have transport provided - including‚ they state‚ pressuring national government to adopt and publish the National Scholar Transport Policy in 2015‚ getting Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to finally commit to exploring a conditional grant to fund scholar transport‚ and ensuring that three schools in Nquthu were provided with government-subsidised buses - it said there were still challenges.

"It is still the case that learners in KZN‚ and elsewhere in the country‚ must walk punishing distances to access an education‚ arriving at their classrooms late and unable to focus‚ and vulnerable to severe weather. Learners must daily face the very real fear of sexual violence‚" Equal Education said.

"We will not stop fighting until learners in all 12 schools in Nquthu - and all learners who are in need nationally - have access to free‚ safe scholar transport."

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