Five Salt River High matric pupils slept at the Woodstock police station so they could be near the school and avoid the impact of the two-day taxi strike during their final exams.
The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) strike crippled the public transport system on Monday and Tuesday.
Salt River High School principal Donavan Nicholas said the pupils had first approached Groote Schuur Hospital on the Sunday to see if they could sleep there, but when the hospital couldn’t accommodate them, they went to the police station.
“The police assisted by allowing them to reside in a room normally reserved for abused women,” he said.
It was commendable that the pupils had thought outside of the box to make sure they could write their life science paper on Monday, he said.
Woodstock police station commander Colonel Delvyn Matroos confirmed the pupils had slept in the station’s victim-support room.
Meanwhile, Queens Park High School secretary Ulanda Manuel said two of their matrics had missed their exam on Monday while another had had to write at an alternative venue close to home.
“Then on Tuesday, two pupils wrote at a venue close to home while one other missed his exam as there was no other means to school.”
Ms Manuel said about ten pupils in each of the other grades at the school had not made it to their exams.
Education MEC David Maynier said it was deeply disappointing that Santaco Western Cape had embarked on the strike due to the impact on pupils writing end-of-year exams and matric exams.
“We have contacted all of our exam centres regarding contingency plans, and sent every individual matric candidate an SMS urging them to make alternate transport plans before Monday,” he said ahead of the strike.
Mr Nicholas said his pupils had been allowed to write at an exam centre closer to their homes using their ID and their admission letters.
The Tatler made numerous attempts to contact Santaco chairman Mandla Hermanus for comment, but he did not answer his phone or respond to voice and WhatsApp messages by deadline.
According to the Cape Times, Santaco embarked on the strike for, among other things, a review of the by-laws under which taxis are impounded and the continued funding and expansion of the Blue Dot taxi programme, which will cease at the end of the month.
The programme was piloted by the provincial government and rewarded drivers for improved driving behaviour and higher service quality.
In a statement, Public Works and Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell said the actions by the taxi industry had had a severe impact on people travelling to and from work, schoolchildren writing exams and those trying to get to hospitals and clinics.
