The Santaco Western Cape minibus taxi strike wreaked havoc across the province this past week, with thousands of learners and educators unable to attend school. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane /African News Agency (ANA)
The Santaco Western Cape minibus taxi strike wreaked havoc across the province this past week, with thousands of learners and educators unable to attend school.
On Thursday evening, Santaco Western Cape released a statement confirming that the stay away has been called off with immediate effect.
This news was met with much relief from parents who have been unable to send their children to school out of fear for their safety.
On Monday, the taxi strike prevented 456 020 learners and 17 449 staff members from getting to school, with the Cape Town metro education districts being the worst affected.
On the Tuesday, 852 259 learners stayed home from school, which is 71% of the learners Western Cape schools, with 17 725 staff members absent and 92 schools were closed.
On the last day of the strike, Thursday, 728 247 learners stayed home from school , which is 60% of the learners in Western Cape schools.
In addition, 12 026 staff members (21.5%) were also absent, and 48 schools were closed (3.1%).
While these numbers are still devastating, it is positive to note that attendance has increased from Tuesday (8 August 2023), with 124 012 more learners and 5 699 more staff members attending school on Thursday.
The number of schools closed also decreased from 92 on Tuesday to 48 on Thursday.
Abigail Williams from Delft has expressed her relief of finally being able to send her children, 8 and 11, to school.
They make use of a school transport and attend school in Eerste River.
She told Weekend Argus on Monday, her children had to walk back from Eerste River to Delft as their transport were unable to pick them up.
Williams said, “Do you know how heartbreaking it is for a mom to see the fear in your children’s eyes? I thank God that they were able to get home safely.”
Martin Hlahla has been transporting children to and from school for the past 20 years and said he has learned that one should rather be safe than sorry.
He explained, “Some drivers took a chance on Monday, and it did not work out well for them . Our priority is the safety of our children. This week, it was not safe for children to be on the roads as it could have led to devastating circumstances, as we have seen on the news.”
David Maynier, MEC for education in the province, said they simply couuld not afford to compromise children’s futures by losing any more teaching and learning time when we are still trying to reverse learning losses from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is why we are keeping schools open. We want to ensure continued teaching and learning for our children, as far as possible, and on Thursday, over 124 000 more learners got that opportunity, which would not have been the case if there was a blanket closure of schools.”
He further said schools ensured a safe space for those that would have otherwise been left unattended, and a meal for those that rely on the feeding scheme as their only means to a meal each day.
Weekend Argus