Relief after high court ruling on KZN learner transport
Nquthu pupils in northern KZN have welcomed a decision by the Education Department to provide 4000 learners with transport to school.
"I have been walking for almost two years now, so I'm happy that I'll be safe and I'll put more effort into my school work," one learner says.
Negotiations were held between the department and concerned group, Equal Education at the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday.
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The movement said learners from 12 schools, who had walked long distances for years, needed safe and reliable transport.
Equal Education's Ntutuzo Ndzomo says they have been awaiting this outcome.
"Since last year we had raised this issue that there was never proper budget allocation towards scholar transport in the province," he says.
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For some, the walk to school lasted two hours. These pupils say they are relieved.
"During the winter days it was scary because some of the learners were being kidnapped, mugged and harassed," says one of the pupils in attendance at the court proceeding.
Another said: "Firstly, I feel so great that we have scholar transport because we have been waiting for so long and it's dangerous because we had to cross rivers."
The department's been given until April next year to implement its transport arrangements.
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