A pupil from a Vereeniging school lost their life after unintentionally being crushed under a school bus as they boarded.
The incident occurred on Tuesday morning as the Grade 11 pupil from Meyerton High School was attempting to board the vehicle.
The pupil was attempting to board the department’s scholar transport bus, according to information received by the Gauteng Department of Education, to travel to school.
According to department spokesperson Steve Mabona, the pupil was fatally struck by the bus as he attempted to enter it at around 7:05 on Tuesday morning.
Steve Mabona said:
“Our Psycho-Social Team was deployed to the school on Wednesday… and provided trauma counselling to all those who were affected by the incident.”
To learn more about the incident’s circumstances, investigations are being conducted.
The department’s scholar transportation in Sedibeng will be disrupted starting on Wednesday due to the untimely loss of the pupil.
Residents are allegedly stoning buses and intimidating scholar bus drivers from transporting pupils.
According to reports, De Deur, Meyerton and Sharpeville, Russoord, and Panfontein do not permit student buses to transport students, Mabona stated.
Panyaza Lesufi, the MEC for Education in Gauteng, extends his sincere condolences to the family of the deceased adolescent who perished in the “gruesome incident.” He expresses his sorrow for the situation and his sympathies to the students at the school and the impacted neighbourhood.
“We also condemn the ongoing scholar transport disruption in Sedibeng which is also impacting negatively on the education of our [pupils]. We call upon members of the community to allow our [pupils] to use scholar transport accordingly,” said Lesufi.
It is challenging to recoup any instructional time, according to Mabona. He claims that the agency implores the neighbourhood to permit students to commute to school so they do not miss instructional time.