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Schoolchildren could be forced to walk along a notorious stretch of state highway blamed for dozens of deaths because their free bus services are set to be slashed under Ministry of Education proposals affecting rural schools.
Under the plan - which would start next year and affect a
number of rural schools - the number of buses to and from Maramarua's local primary school would be halved from two to one and fewer students will be eligible for free rides.
Maramarua School principal Caroline Jacobs said about 50 of the school's 67 students would be affected.
Only 20 would be eligible to catch the remaining bus and their journey would be increased by up to an hour each way, as they would be sharing the ride with secondary school students.
Of even more concern, children living within 3.2km of the school will no longer be able to catch the bus, prompting anger from members of the community who say walking to school is likely to claim lives.
Part of the road children will be forced to walk along includes a stretch of State Highway 2, near the Red Fox Tavern where a bus collided with a truck in August.
The bus came to rest in the ditch on the side of the road, spreading debris for 150m in each direction and injuring 16 of the 19 female passengers and the driver.
It is one of many accidents which have occurred along what has been dubbed the 'Unforgiving Highway' and has claimed dozens of lives in the past five years.
Board of Trustees member Toni Brumby said she was concerned a child would be seriously injured or killed before the bus service was reinstated.
"What are they waiting for. Are they waiting for one of the children to be a statistic so it becomes an urgent matter, so they give our bus back? Well, I'm not willing to donate a child for their statistics."
Stephen Pogson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the Mangatangi Volunteer Fire Brigade said it was impractical having children walking along SH2 - an area he has attended numerous serious accidents.
"It's isn't the most practical thing to be doing ... I don't know why the service is being taken away but from our point of view it certainly doesn't seem like a safe practice, not along there.
"There's no safe place for them to cross the road and even walking along the side of the road wouldn't be safe."
Ministry of Education spokesman Ian Butler said school transport funding was focused on getting children living far from the school gate into the classroom.
It was not determined by the safety of the roads they had to travel on. The Ministry reviews tax-payer funded school bus routes every two years.
Mr Butler said routes were usually ruled no longer viable because there were too few eligible children - usually less than eight. The Ministry would contact parents of those children directly to offer help to ensure they could attend school.
