Barred from school by high transport costs

Sphamandla Mthethwa, 22, dropped out of school. Where he lives, in Cottonlands in Verulam, north of Durban, there is no high school and, like many others, when he finished primary school he could not afford the transport to high school, 35km to 45km away.

“Every job requires a matric certificate now,” says Mthethwa, who dropped out of school in grade 9.

“I wish I had one, but I was unable to study further because I did not have money for transport. If the government builds a school in my area, I can go back to school and maybe it will be easier for me to find employment. I don’t care about my age. What matters is my future.”

Cottonlands Primary School has about 1,000 pupils, with about 120 grade 7s, who are due to go to high school next year.

But the nearest secondary schools are Mashiyamahle High School, an hour-and-a-half away in Ndwedwe (R20 return in a taxi); Waterloo Secondary School, an hour away in Waterloo (R44 return in a taxi and R36 in a bus); and Lihlithemba Technical School and Sisebenzile Secondary School, both 45 minutes away in Ndwedwe (R14 return in a taxi).

In a community where unemployment is high, most parents cannot afford to send their children to these schools. Some people sell sugar cane to make a living and some collect cans, bottles and steel for recycling.

Residents have taken to the streets to demand a school, with the biggest protest in 2015.

Mbali Hlophe, a dissatisfied parent, said: “For years we have been waiting for a school to be built, but our pleas fell on deaf ears. We have lost hope of ever seeing a school being built.

“Some of us cannot afford to pay for transport. What have we been voting for all these years? What will become of our children without education?”

Another parent, Nokuphiwa Khuzwayo, said: “I am not employed. My children and I can barely survive on a government grant. It’s very difficult to find cash every day for my daughter’s transport to school.”

Twenty-year-old Andile Zibani said his mother had lost her job and had not been able to pay for transport to school. “Sometimes, my family struggled to meet basic needs, so I couldn’t afford bus fares every day. I dropped out and now am focused on building my music career.

“We appeal to the authorities to build us a school. I was born and bred in this area 20 years ago and I think the almost 30-year waiting period is long enough.”

Kwazi Mthethwa, KwaZulu-Natal department of education spokesperson, said a feasibility study would have to be done to establish if there is a need for a new school in the area.

When finance minister, Tito Mboweni delivered the budget speech in February, the community was optimistic about the allocation of funds for building new schools, but they have yet to benefit. Residents said they would like to appeal to the department of education to give their children a chance to become productive citizens.

Two education experts noted that the problem of rural areas not having high schools is widespread. A challenge is finding enough teachers. If there are only a few teachers, they are likely to have to teach subjects they are not qualified to teach, reducing the quality of education. Added to this, small high schools with few students are expensive to run.

This article was first published by GroundUp.