The department of basic education (DBE) has successfully eradicated 96% of pit toilets identified in the 2018 audit under the sanitation appropriate for education (Safe) initiative.
Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube and Limpopo education MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya visited some of the schools in the Vhembe district in Limpopo on Friday.
During her visit, Gwarube handed over newly built toilets as part of the department’s continued efforts to ensure pupils and teachers have access to safe and dignified sanitation in schools.
Gwarube said this milestone was a result of bold government action, unwavering commitment and strong partnership.
“In 2018, the government identified 3,372 schools with unsafe pit toilets. Today only 141 of those identified remain. While this is significant progress, it is not a victory until every learner has access to safe and dignified sanitation,” she said.
While Section27 welcomed the minister’s undertaking to complete the 2018 backlog, the organisation said there were schools that were not on the minister’s list.
“We are concerned that a proper audit will be necessary on a national level to ensure that all schools in need are accounted for,” said Section27 education attorney Demichelle Petherbridge.
Gauteng, the Western Cape and Northern Cape had no schools identified in the 2018 audit. Across other provinces, the following progress was made:
the North West, Free State and Mpumalanga — 100% eradication;Limpopo — 99.74% eradication (390 of 391 schools completed);KwaZulu-Natal — 96.4% eradication (1,209 of 1,254 schools completed); andthe Eastern Cape — 93.3% eradication (1,343 of 1,439 schools completed)Gwarube assured that urgent measures were in place to complete the remaining 141 schools, with 90 scheduled for completion by July, pushing the eradication rate beyond 98%.
Recognising that some of the schools may have been missed in the 2018 audit, the department will conduct a new national sanitation audit. The department also encouraged the public to report any remaining pit toilets through the Safe Schools app, which has already received 166 reports.
“This government must dare to dream bigger, act faster and solve problems once considered intractable. While we have made extraordinary progress, our work is not done,” she said.
Petherbridge said Section27 has been closely monitoring the eradication of pit toilets across the country and in Limpopo schools for several years.
The organisation has undertaken verification exercises telephonically and via site visits to determine the reality on the ground.
“What we found has been a mixed bag of results. We have seen some beautiful facilities at schools where sanitation has been addressed properly. However, we have also seen schools where construction has started but is not yet completed. We have seen schools where construction hasn’t even begun.
“We have also seen very serious problems with schools where construction is not completed but have received mobile toilets, and there has been insufficient provision of mobile toilets,” she said.
Petherbridge said they recognised the minister was completing a backlog from an audit in 2018. She said they welcomed the undertaking but recognised the problem of working with outdated data, “especially what we have seen on the ground in Limpopo”.
“When Limpopo department of education brought out its first plan it told us, for example, about 280 schools were priority 1 schools. After a number of years of verification that number has now jumped to 564, which tells us that auditing and updating of numbers is not done as properly and accurately as it should be,” she said.
She added that when the minister was talking about the 2018 data, they were concerned that this did not include hundreds of schools across the country that might have fallen under the radar.
TimesLIVE
0 Comments