Pupils talk about the long road back to school

• Published date: 10 February 2022
• Author: Shahied Joseph shahied.joseph@inl.co.za
• Publication title: Atlantic Sun

But now that pupils are required to return to school full-time, they are again having to factor the wait for public transport, the long ride and the cost of travelling, into their daily routine

At Vista and Sea Point high schools, many pupils live in the townships on the outskirts of town and have to travel between 25km and 30km to get to school.

The Atlantic Sun spoke to Grade 12 pupils to find out more about their experience.

Vista High School pupil Thalile Jonas, 18, leaves home from Khayelitsha at 5.40am and gets to Green Point at 7.40am, from there she walks to school.

“I use a regular taxi so we travel on the highway and meet up with the traffic,” she said. “So it’s a long ride and I do get tired and the heat also tires me. But yesterday it rained and most of us were soaked when we got to school. When I left home it was clear skies but when we were in the taxi it started raining.”

Brighton Moyo and Kamva Ngaka, both 18, who attend Vista High and are also from Khayelitsha, and use a taxi and a bus respectively to get to the city and then walk up the slopes of Bo-Kaap.

“It’s R21 to come to town with the taxi, and when I go home its R21.50. The queues are usually long in the afternoons and it takes a while to get home, I usually get home after 5pm,” said Brighton.

“My mother thinks the bus is safer and cheaper. I have the weekly ticket which costs R180. I walk to the bus stop and that takes me about 10 minutes, then the hour-long bus ride and the walk to school,” Kamva said.

They said their parents or guardians believe that the city schools have better resources than those in the townships and that’s why they are enrolled there.

Communications director for the Western Cape Education Department, Bronagh Hammond, said the department was aware of the distances that some pupils travel.

“I cannot respond on behalf of every parent as to why they have made a decision to enrol in schools in the city bowl and commute rather than apply at a school close by. There will be various reasons for that decision,” she said.

“In some instances it may be for better education opportunities, in others it may be because the parents work in town and therefore this is more convenient to travel together, in other instances, they may prefer the school, or there could be subject choices of preference.”

Besides waking up before dawn, the pupils said that they faced dangers in the streets of the townships and the city.

Nasiphi Manyana, 18, from Philippi East, also attends Vista...