The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has launched a pilot project to provide transport for Grade R learners in rural areas.

The pilot forms part of efforts by the department to provide high quality Grade R learning programmes for five-year-old children in the province.

Grade R is the "reception" year before Grade 1. While not compulsory, Grade R helps to ensure that pre-school children are better prepared for formal schooling.

The aim of the pilot transport project is to improve access to Grade R classes in rural areas. Expanding school transport to include Grade R learners is a key deliverables of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

The WCED already invests in one of the largest learner transport schemes in the country. Till now, the department has provided transport for learners of compulsory school-going age in poor communities who live more than five kilometres from their nearest school.

The pilot project will begin by providing transport for Grade R learners who live more than five kilometres from their nearest school in the Eden/Karoo and West Coast education districts.

The pilot scheme will provide transport for Grade R learners in the targeted areas on buses already transporting learners as part of the broader Learner Transport Scheme.

The scheme for Grade R learners will start as a pilot because the WCED must still establish demand.

Demand is unclear at this stage because Grade R schooling is not compulsory. Parents are not obliged to register children for Grade R before the start of the school year.

The WCED has estimated that about 10% of learners attending Grade R classes in public schools need transport assistance. For this reason, the WCED has estimated that likely demand will be about 25 000. The department is budgeting for this demand.

The WCED plans to start providing the transport from 1 February 2009, to provide a chance for schools to register Grade R learners for transport in the areas concerned. Schools reopened today.

Education district officials will work with schools to determine numbers and to submit applications for transport for specific learners. The WCED will process the applications and negotiate amendments to existing contracts with service providers.

Key risks include learner safety while waiting at pick-up points, on the buses and at school after instruction time has ended. The WCED will work with schools on measures to ensure safety at these times. The WCED already applies stringent safety requirements for the transport itself.