The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) welcomes the recent progress made by the Eastern Cape Department of Education, in collaboration with the Eastern Cape Department of Transport, in implementing the 17 December 2024 Makhanda High Court ruling on scholar transport. The ruling, which affirmed that all qualifying children in the province must be granted access to transport, represents a significant victory for learners’ rights to education and dignity. The approximately 50,000 learners currently left out of the program have some reason for hope.
On January 24, 2025, the Department of Education distributed a circular outlining the process schools must follow to record eligible learners’ details on the central database so that the department can plan the roll out of scholar transport. This is a positive first step by the department to comply with the court ruling and address long-standing issues affecting thousands of children who have had to navigate dangerous and exhausting journeys to access their education.
According to the circular, schools are required to capture two sets of data separately in the South African School Administration and Management System (SASAMS) using the terms ‘approved’ and ‘pending’ indicators:
- Learners who are currently being transported according to the 2025 scholar transport quota must be recorded as ‘approved’.
- Learners who qualify for scholar transport but are not currently transported due to quota limitations must be marked as ‘pending’.
- Data capturing for all registered learners began on January 19, 2025, with submissions scheduled between January 24 and 31, as per the EMIS calendar.
The LRC commends the Department of Education and the Department of Transport for taking meaningful action to comply with the court order and for filing their first progress report to the court on time. This demonstrates a commitment to accountability and to fulfilling the constitutional mandate to provide equitable access to education for all children in the province.
We urge parents and schools in the Eastern Cape to familiarize themselves with the circular and take proactive steps to ensure that all eligible learners are registered in SASAMS. If any issues arise, we encourage you to reach out to your school, district office, or the Legal Resources Centre for assistance.
This directive is a vital step toward ensuring that no child is left behind simply because they live more than five kilometers from school. Scholar transport is an essential part of the constitutional right to basic education, allowing learners to access education with dignity and without unnecessary hardship. Moving forward, continued oversight and collaboration will be key to turning this commitment into tangible results for every learner in need, making the fundamental right to education a reality for thousands of children in the Eastern Cape.
