Child transport more unsafe by the year‚ says DA

Of the 52 pupils killed since 2013 while being transported to school‚ 39 deaths occurred in the past 11 months‚ according to the Democratic Alliance spokeswoman on basic education.

And of the children injured since 2013‚ 25% were in the 11-month period. This translates into 284 pupils injured since 2013.

These figures were revealed in a reply to a DA question in Parliament‚ Nomsa Marchesi said in a statement on Friday.

She said this was proof that “there has still been no improvement in safety” despite the government having “developed a detailed national scholar transport plan”.

Marchesi said she had visited the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal and will visit other provinces to highlight the need for safe‚ reliable transport for pupils.