Thousands of KZN learners are at risk of losing access to government-funded scholar transport due to severe budget cuts.
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More than 40,000 learners are set to lose access to government-funded scholar transport due to severe budget cuts.
The Department of Education has revealed a “proposal” that will decrease the number of learners benefiting from scholar transport from 76,000 to 32,000 by July this year, leaving the balance without transport. This development has troubled department officials, who indicated that this is a reversal of their gains, pointing out that the cuts come as there are more than 100,000 learners on the waiting list for the service.
The department briefed members of the committee and warned that the scholar transport function could completely collapse by August this year.
The department was forced to reduce the number of buses and taxis transporting pupils to schools due to funding shortfalls.
This function is managed by the Department of Transport on behalf of the Department of Education.
The revelations stunned members of the Education Portfolio Committee, who warned that this could trigger high absenteeism, deprive learners of education, and entrench inequality. The scholar transport service assists thousands of learners who live far from their schools. Currently, the service includes a contracted fleet of 611 buses, 19 midi buses, and 35 taxis, benefiting 76,000 learners from 434 schools, with an estimated budget of R669 million.
Department official, Vukani Khumalo, briefed the committee members and stated that the situation has been critical over the past few years due to funding shortfalls. Khumalo noted that in recent years, the programme has continuously faced budget shortfalls, leading to the allocated budget being exhausted within the earlier months of the financial year.
“Previously, the provincial treasury was able to supplement the budget mid-financial year to prevent disruption of the programme. However, due to the treasury's own budgetary constraints in recent years, they have not been able to intervene lately,” Khumalo said.
“This situation has led to the Department of Transport, which signed contracts with service providers, continuing to pay from their own budget to avoid the collapse of the programme in the middle of the financial year,” he added.
Khumalo told the committee members about the dire situation, stating, “The main issue we are presenting to this committee relates to the reduction of the current fleet by almost half as a result of budgetary constraints.”
“We are in a very bad situation that we found ourselves in, which is likely to collapse the programme before the end of the calendar year,” he said. He said while the budget for the required function is R669 million this financial year, the allocated budget is only R339 million. Over the last three years, the budget has been cut by almost R100 million per year.
The department said as of 2025, they have looked to reduce the number of schools served, cutting services to schools where there is reliable public transport or where learners travel less than five kilometres to school.
They intend to cut 40 schools, reducing the number of schools receiving transport to about 388. He added that while this reduces the projected budget for the function from R669 million to R520 million, there is still a shortfall of R180 million. “In that process, we had to cut to the bone; we tried to remove every school that no longer qualified (where there is reliable public transport and learners travel less than five kilometres to school).”
The report on the matter showed that as a result of the cuts, the number of buses will drop from 611 to 359, and taxis from 235 to 207.
“The department stated that this decision carries serious risks for the department and education as a whole. We have identified serious risks associated with the removal of so many learners from the programme, including massive province-wide protests which might grind the education system to a halt and may lead to violence and damage,” the report said. It further noted the decision to remove so many learners from the programme would be in breach of the child’s right to education.
Hlengiwe Mavimbela, chairperson of the Committee, said the function must be scrutinised to ensure that indeed the ones who benefit are the learners who need it. “We have seen that learners who are not supposed to be benefiting are benefiting, such as learners being transported to a school of choice, not the school of need.”
She warned that disruption to the service in the middle of the academic year would be disruptive and could result in more children dropping out,” said the chairperson.
Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and stated he would engage with Premier Thami Ntuli on the matter and would be discussing it with the cabinet.
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