G/hope moves to scrap school donkey carts
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday June 19, 2020 16:05
When the donkey carts programme was introduced a couple of years ago, it was met with a lot of resistance after the government insisted it was the only option.
Nominated Councillor, Kenaleone Motsaathebe argued recently that transporting pupils by donkey carts was not only unsuitable but very irrelevant in this day of the fourth industrial revolution, the digital era and the upward mobility of Botswana from a middle income economy to an upper-middle income economy.
Motsaathebe said the use of the mode of transport was an indicative of failure to formulate sustainable and progressive policies such as a dignified school transport policy.
“It defies conventional reasoning to imagine that, in the year 2020, we are seriously transporting pupils using donkey carts. It is unjustifiable.
Botswana is not that poor. Donkey carts are an important mode of transport for rural people going about their daily lives, without the need to arrive anywhere on schedule for an important undertaking such as schooling.
Donkeys are not useable during the rainy days, the carts don’t even have wiper blades. Donkeys should not be used in extremely cold conditions as it amounts to cruelty to animals.
The donkey cart environment does not stimulate any progressive thinking by the young mind,” Motsaathebe said.
Still on the matter, some Councillors requested that instead of using donkey carts, Council should consider hiring combis or buying such to transport students.
“There are many ways in which the council can make budget cuts or savings such as foregoing the purchase of top of the range motor vehicles for senior staff use and opting for lower range models which will still serve the same purpose as top of the range motor vehicles. Instead of purchasing vehicles such as the popular Toyota Fortuner 2.8GD6 4X4 SUVs, the council could purchase 2.4GD6 Double cabs. The savings exceed P100,000 per motor vehicle. The savings would cover transport costs to private combi (minibus) owners,” the councillors said.
Councillors said combi owners in different villages might agree to transport students for reasonable tariffs as part of the community’s contribution to the education of children.
The Councillors also said the council could also consider buying or leasing bicycles to needy students. Transportation of students by donkey carts is not only a hot potato in Goodhope-Mabule constituency, but in most rural constituencies.
In the mid 2000s, to the dismay of the general population, the government introduced the donkey cart initiative after realising that most children travelled long distances to and from schools.
In 2018, BOPA reported that Parliament was informed that a total of 12 donkey carts were procured and allocated to primary schools in the Nata/Gweta, Nkange and Shashe West constituencies to transport children during the 2016/17 financial year.
Then Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Frans Van Der Westhuizen said 10 carts were allocated to Nkange while two were given to Shashe West constituency.
The media then also reported that out of the 12, only one cart operated for only three months, adding that the carts were not used because the operators complained of the low rate of P652, which was increased to P1 000, but still there was no uptake of the initiative.
“The donkey carts had not been fully used, therefore the intended purpose was never achieved. However, the carts will be redistributed to other sub-districts where they will be utilised,” Van Der Westhuizen said then. This was after the now disgraced Member of Parliament for Nata-Gweta Polson Majaga had asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to state the number of donkey carts that were allocated to schools in the Nata/Gweta, Nkange and Shashe West constituencies to transport children to schools. Majaga had also wanted to know how many such carts were operational, how many had never been used and why, and if the donkey carts had achieved the purpose for which they were introduced.
Some people threw shades at the programme, feeling it was disrespectful, that instead, government should have engaged public transport operators.
At the time, a leading mobile network in the country, offered to sponsor some villages with the donkey carts.
Last December, the Minister of Basic Education Fidelis Molao was asked in Parliament whether he was aware that there were still students who walked long distances of about 25 Kilometres a day to access education in the Nkange constituency and some areas around the country.
He was further asked to explain whether apart from transporting students in donkey carts, there were any plans to assist them with much better and safer transport.
In his response, Molao cited budgetary constraints. “The Ministry is not in a position to transport students to schools on a daily basis due to budget constraints and sustainability,” he was quoted saying.
Instead, he suggested that parents should be encouraged, where possible, to work together towards provision of transport for their children either through car pooling or contributions to hire public transport such as school buses and that they should not hesitate to do it and only rely on government.
“Long walking distances for students everyday to and from school do not only affect them physically, but they also affects their studies.
This is because when they arrive at school, they are tired and it makes it difficult for them to concentrate,” he said.
“Some even go to an extend of ending up sleeping during lessons. The same thing happens again when they have to reach back to their homes after school. They arrive home very late which makes them to sleep immediately on their arrival thus they have no chance to study at home,” he said.