{"id":102959,"date":"2025-12-28T20:57:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T18:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=102959"},"modified":"2025-12-28T21:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:01:52","slug":"scholar-transport-crisis-leaves-thousands-of-learners-walking-dangerous-distances-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/scholar-transport-crisis-leaves-thousands-of-learners-walking-dangerous-distances-to-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholar Transport Crisis Leaves Thousands of Learners Walking Dangerous Distances to School"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em>
\n3-minute read<\/em>
\n23 December 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Learners walk long distances to school as scholar transport failures persist, placing thousands of children at daily risk.<\/p><\/div>\n

Urgent intervention is required as nearly 170,000 learners across South Africa are forced to walk more than five kilometres to and from school every day due to a failing scholar transport system. Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has confirmed the scale of the crisis, with little indication that conditions will improve in 2026 unless decisive action is taken.<\/p>\n

The issue was unpacked during a Radio Islam International<\/em> i<\/a>nterview with Dr Juane Van Der Merwe-Mocke from the Federation of Governing Bodies of South Africa (FEDSAS), who described the situation as a \u201clarge-scale failure with very real consequences on the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen scholar transport doesn\u2019t work, learners are expected to walk long distances to school, often starting very early in the morning and returning late in the afternoon,\u201d Dr Van Der Merwe-Mocke said. \u201cIn some cases, children are walking more than 10 kilometres a day, on unsafe roads, exposed to crime, harsh weather and sheer exhaustion.\u201d<\/p>\n

She warned that the impact extends beyond physical strain, directly undermining learners\u2019 ability to succeed academically. \u201cA child who is tired, hungry and already overwhelmed cannot concentrate. Their learning suffers, and it is usually our most vulnerable children who are affected the most,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Provincial disparities remain stark, with KwaZulu-Natal emerging as the worst affected. More than 117,000 learners in the province who qualify for scholar transport are currently not receiving it. Dr Van Der Merwe-Mocke said this reflects a broader administrative breakdown and long-standing funding pressures, exacerbated by the province\u2019s high number of rural schools.<\/p>\n

However, she stressed that these challenges do not absolve the state of its obligations. \u201cIf a child qualifies for scholar transport, the responsibility to provide it still remains,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are no longer dealing with a small gap in the system. Thousands of children are being forced to walk long distances every day, and that chips away at their learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

While scholar transport is implemented at provincial level, Dr Van Der Merwe-Mocke cautioned against the ongoing blame-shifting between departments. \u201cOne department says it\u2019s a transport issue, the other says it\u2019s an education issue, and in the meantime, children are left walking to school,\u201d she said, calling for \u201cvery firm national oversight\u201d by the Department of Basic Education.<\/p>\n

Eligibility for scholar transport is primarily determined by distance, with learners living more than five kilometres from the nearest appropriate school qualifying. Yet even learners who meet these criteria continue to be failed by poor planning and weak accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no longer a provincial hiccup,\u201d Dr Van Der Merwe-Mocke said. \u201cIt\u2019s a national concern. Until we see proper planning, clear accountability and strong oversight, children will continue to pay the price for a system that looks fine on paper but has broken down in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up<\/em><\/a> with Annisa Essack and Dr Juane Van Der Merwe-Mocke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 23 December 2025 Urgent intervention is required as nearly 170,000 learners across South Africa are forced to walk more than five kilometres to and from school every day due to a failing scholar transport system. Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has confirmed the scale of the crisis, with little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":102961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Scholar-Transport.png?fit=1024%2C539&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qMD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 00:45:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}