Pretoria – Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said he was saddened by the death of a Grade 11 learner at Meyerton High School in Vereeniging who was accidentally crushed by a school transport bus.
“According to information at our disposal, the incident occurred at approximately 07:05 AM (on Tuesday) when learners were boarding the department’s scholar transport bus to school. It is reported that the learner was fatally trampled by the bus as he was trying to board it,” said Lesufi’s spokesperson, Steve Mabona.
“Our psychosocial team was deployed to the school on Wednesday and provided trauma counselling to all those who were affected by the incident.”
Mabona said the incident was being investigated.
He said school transport was disrupted in the wake of the tragedy as buses transporting pupils were not allowed to operate in De Deur, Meyerton, Sharpeville, Rusoord and Panfontein on Wednesday.
Reports alleged that some members of community were stoning buses and intimidating drivers, stopping them from transporting learners.
Lesufi said: “We send our deepest condolences to the family of the learner (who died) We also condemn the ongoing scholar transport disruptions in Sedibeng which are also impacting negatively on the education of our learners,” said Lesufi.
“We call upon members of the community to allow our learners to use scholar transport accordingly.”
IOL