04 Feb 2021

Assistant Minister of Basic Education Ms Nnaniki Makwinja says Matsha College has no records of the names or numbers of pupils eligible to receive government provided transport at the time of the fatal accident on November 13, 2015.

Responding to a question in Parliament on February 3, Ms Makwinja said other findings were that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development through the Kweneng District Councils department of Social and Community Development [S&CD] was responsible for transporting needy learners to and from school at the beginning and end of each school term.

She said the school had no policy requiring a representative to monitor boarding of S&CD vehicles by learners and that school did not assign anyone to oversee the departure of Form V boarders on November 13, 2015.

Ms Makwinja also said the school had no such policy governing the collection and transportation of pupils from school to their homes.

The then Ministry of Education and Skills Development has advocated for the use of buses as opposed to open trucks for transporting pupils. But at the time there was no formal written policy or other document instructing on this, she said.

Ms Makwinja said in addition the police conducted an investigation into the cause of the accident which pointed to the fact that the vehicle was heavily overloaded.

She said subsequent to the tragic accident her ministry had stipulated that children travelling on trips must travel by suitable bus or mini-bus, noting that the  S&CD department continued to use trucks to transport children who resided in remote and less accessible locations.

The assistant minister also told Parliament that an investigation was conducted by the then Ministry of Education and Skills Development officers to ascertain, but not limited to how many pupils were in the S&CD programme as per the school record were registered to travel by means of government provided transport on November 13, 2015 and what was the standard procedure/practice for collection of S&CD programme Form V Boarders from the school following the completion of their examinations.

The ministry was also to ascertain what was the role of the school representative and that of the S&CD programme representative in ensuring safe boarding of the vehicle by the learners.

Further, it was also to ascertain who within the school management would be/was assigned to oversee the departure of the Form V boarders following the completion of their examinations and whether any protocols, policies, practices etc existed that governed the collection and transportation of pupils from schools to their homes.

The ministry was to find out whether the protocols, policies and practices were adhered to on November 13,  2015.

Sefhare-Ramokgonami MP,Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang had asked for an update on the results of the investigations into the fatal truck accident involving Matsha College learners and what action was taken following the recommendations of the investigations. ENDS