In excess of 100 000 Western Cape Learners were unable to make it to school earlier this week when the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) embarked on a two-day taxi strike.
Also read: Taxi Strike: Business as usual in CBD-Buses burn in Khayelitsha
In a statement, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said that while all matric candidates had been able to write their exams during the strike, other learners were severely impacted by the protest action on Monday and Tuesday.
Two major exams were written on the two days. On Monday, 32 490 candidates were registered for life sciences paper 2, and 27 055 were registered for geography paper 2 on Tuesday.
Candidates were informed that they would be able to write at their nearest exam centre ahead of these exams.
Provincial Education MEC David Maynier thanked principals and teachers for developing and executing contingency plans to assist candidates.
“On Monday, 128 699 learners in Grades 1 to 11 missed school, and on Tuesday, 128 747 missed school,” Maynier explained. “What this means is that the strike cost 11% of the Grade 1 to 11 learners of the Western Cape two days of schooling.”
“School staff were also negatively affected, with 2 435 missing work on Monday, and 1 965 on Tuesday. Most crucially, many schools had to reschedule exams, disrupting the end-of-year revision, marking, and administrative processes at our schools.”
Meanwhile, education activist Hendrick Makaneta told IOL that the fact that other learners could not attend classes due to protests was a cause for great concern.
“We appeal to the government to find a way to resolve issues of workers before they escalate to tension levels,” Makaneta said.
However, Provincial ANC education spokesperson Khalid Sayed said the onus of blame should be directed at Mobility MEC Daylin Mitchell.
“While we agree that the timing of the taxi shutdown was unfortunate and negatively affected the learners, we must caution the MEC not to be disingenuous by shifting the blame to the taxi industry purely. He must blame his MEC of Mobility who has consistently and continuously failed the taxi industry since he assumed that office. The only time he has successfully intervened on the taxi industry-related matters is when the national government, through the office of Minister Mbalula, was involved.”
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Picture: Cape{town}Etc Library