he Portfolio Committee on Education, Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation led by the Chairperson, Hon. Boitumelo Moiloa paid a visit to JM Lekgetho Commercial School, in Boikhutso

The Portfolio Committee on Education, Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation led by the Chairperson, Hon. Boitumelo Moiloa paid a visit to JM Lekgetho Commercial School, in Boikhutso where about 36 of the learners were in a bus that had an accident last week. The Portfolio Committee had been visiting schools in Ditsobotla Local Municipality as part of the oversight week that the North West Provincial Legislature is conducting in various municipalities under the Ngaka Modiri Molema District from the 6-9 February 2024.

JM Lekgetho was not part of the school that the Committee had intended to visit but when it had about the accident, it was decided to go and check how the learners were doing and how the Committee can assist the school to ensure that it holds the department accountable and that this does not happen again.

The Principal of the School told the Committee that they had 16 learners on the bus, 4 were injured and one of the learner’s leg was broken. She said mostly the learners at the school are traumatized and are even crying whenever they have to get on the bus.

The Principal cried foul about the conditions of the busses and roadworthiness and requested the committee to follow up with the department of Transport and Community Safety on the issues of monitoring of learners during the trip. She requested that in all busses there must be somebody that looks after the learners while the bus is in transit.

She also commended MEC Lehari for making sure that the bus that had an accident’s contract has been terminated and that a new bus was allocated for the route immediately.

Chairperson of the Committee Hon. Moiloa promised to follow up with the department on all issues raised and also to ask the Department of Education to provide counseling for all learners using scholar transport as the incident seems to have traumatised them.