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VIII. Conclusion

“Government is aware that the farms are not well served, but it is difficult, there is not enough money, transport, access, farm [owners] don’t want the government on the land, there is a huge geographic area to cover, not enough personnel, etc.”²²⁸

The government faces enormous challenges in attempting to protect the rights of those living in remote rural areas, particularly the right of children living on commercial farms to education.  The present government has inherited a situation where a child may have to endure long journeys on foot, be unable to meet schools fees or pay for a school uniform.  All these needs create a burden on the child and parent(s).  In its concluding remarks to South Africa’s initial report as required by the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern at “[c]ertain vulnerable groups of children, including Black [African] children… living in rural areas” and that “[i]nequality in access to education remains in some areas particularly among Black [African] children…from economically disadvantaged families, many of whom still do not attend school.”²²⁹  In its recommendations, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the South African government to improve the quality of education and to make education accessible to all children.

The provision of education in rural areas and for the farming community in particular has its difficulties.  This largely rests on the fact that the children attending farm schools are of farmworker parents.  Their right to be enrolled at the school stems from their parents working on the farm where the school is located or on a neighboring farm.  This means that in a case of the eviction of a parent who is a farmworker, the child has to also leave the property and in turn the school¾unless the child can find appropriate accommodation near the school to continue attending classes.  

The dual responsibility—private and public— in the provision of education, that is, through the conclusion of contractual agreements, is not ideal.  The obligation to guarantee the right to education falls within the purview of the state and thus the primary obligation to protect this right lies with the state.  Where the management of these schools is clearly not operating in the interests of a child receiving an education, the state should consider as a last resort the option of expropriating land in the public interest as provided for by the South African constitution and the Schools Act.  Amalgamating schools is a further option.  Where this will involve shutting down schools, the provision of transport must be considered for children who will be required to travel long distances as a result of the move.  Local government should play a role in cooperating in the provision of transport and waiving the cost of services such as water and electricity consumption for schools so as to make these services affordable.²³⁰

The South African government has inherited an education system in rural areas based on racial, social and economic inequalities.  Through the 1996 constitution and the ratification of international human rights law pertaining to children’s rights to education, the government is obliged to protect the right to an education.  Children living on farms have the right to receive an education freely and in an environment conducive to learning.