Patensie High School pupils are off to a slow start to the academic year – some only stepped into classes this week after the arrival of a newly deployed fleet of scholar transport vehicles.
The department of transport provided four buses at the weekend to transport 121 pupils who had been without transport since schools opened.
Parents shut the school down last week because of the problem.
Principal Cecil Madeley said the school was operating normally, with only minor hiccups regarding scholar transport.
At least 20 pupils failed to arrive at school on Monday for a variety of reasons, including one of the drivers being drunk the day before.
“We are still to confirm the number of learners who were left behind, [however] we established that there were learners who took the bus, yet their names were not on the list,” Madeley said.
However the town’s Ward 10 councillor, Amos Mabukane, pointed a finger at the scholar transport driver after the councillor was called on Sunday by Patensie police.
“One of the buses travelling to Patensie on Sunday, which was meant to collect learners on Monday, was impounded because the driver was drunk.
“The driver subsequently started to collect learners from various bus stops later than scheduled,” Mabukane said.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli confirmed the bus driver was spotted by police but said the bus was stationary at the time.
“The driver was alone and was standing outside the vehicle when members of the police who were busy patrolling saw him.
“Because he was drunk, the police members drove the bus to the police station and parked it outside while the bus driver slept.”
Nkohli said when the driver was sober, the police allowed him to leave and no case was opened.
Transport spokesperson Khuselwa Rantjie said the department was aware of an incident on Sunday.
“In the event that it was something that had happened while the driver was delivering learners to school, that would be reason to terminate the contract with the service operator – but it happened outside his work,” Rantjie said.
She said the department was not aware that there were pupils who were left behind.
Madeley said because it was a new operation, there were bound to be mistakes.
“The regional transport coordinator and other officials from the department of transport came to do a head count of the learners who were transported on Monday.
“There were learners who were absent due to transferral, but did not inform the school.
“And there were also learners absent because they were unaware of the available transport,” he said.
Rantjie said: “According to the communication from the officials who were on site, everything went smoothly.
“In the event that the principal has other issues, he should contact the department via the relevant channels which he is aware of.”