Taxi strike impacting schools
The Western Cape’s Education Department (WCED) said it is concerned on what the SANTACO stayaway has on schools.
PICTURE: Pixabay852 259 learners stayed home
from school on Tuesday, which the WCED said is 71% of the learners in the province’s
schools, 17 725 staff absent, and 92 schools closed on Tuesday.
On Monday, the 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. This is a significant increase from the 287 000 learners
and 9 500 staff members who were absent on Friday, and is a devastating loss of
teaching and learning time that our children simply cannot afford.
‘’The fact is that SANTACO’s
minibus taxi strike is destroying teaching and learning in the Western Cape. Our
children need to be in class learning, and SANTACO is stopping this from
happening,’’ said David Maynier, Western Cape Education MEC.
‘’We are committed to keeping
schools open as far as possible and where it is safe to do so, not just as
places of learning, but as places of safety and nutritional support for
children. Decisions to close selected schools will be taken on a case-by-case
basis, and the school in question will inform parents. We simply cannot afford
to compromise our children’s futures by losing any more teaching and learning
time in the Western Cape,’’ he added.
Done by: Mitchum George
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