This is intended for poor farm, rural and special school pupils where access to a school poses a challenge.
PUPIL transport, intended for poor farm, rural and special school pupils, where access to a school poses a challenge, will be provided for almost 25 000 pupils in the Northern Cape.
Speaking on the readiness of the Province for the start of school tomorrow, the MEC for Education, Mac Jack, said yesterday that pupils were expected to attend the nearest suitable school to their residence.
“Pupils do not qualify for pupil transport if the nearest suitable school is situated within a radius of 5km to the parents’/ guardians’ residence,” he said.
According to Jack, the department has finalised all the routes and emphasised that pupil transport will only be provided to pupils who qualify.
“The current pupil transport contracts expired at the end of December 2019. All the contracts that expired in December 2019 have been extended to end of March 2020, and the tender for new contracts will be published by the end of January 2020. The intention is to appoint new operators by the end of this financial year.”
Jack stated that pupil transport was currently provided for 24 544 pupils from 358 schools on 408 routes operated by 224 service providers across all five districts in the Province.
“We can confirm that all 408 routes will be operational when the schools reopen in January 2020.”
He called on members of the public to report or notify the department about any challenges experienced in their community relating to pupil transport.
