Despite government promises to eradicate pit toilets, nearly 3,000 SA state schools lack proper sanitation infrastructure, risking the health and safety of pupils and teachers
Pit toilets used by pupils at Reahlahlwa Primary School in Limpopo. Picture: SANDILE NDLOVUights Month in SA, many of our rural schools do not have proper water and sanitation infrastructure. They remain dependent on pit latrines due to either inadequate water supplies or lack of proper sanitation infrastructure.
The case of Michael Komape, a five-year-old pupil who drowned in a pit toilet at Mahlodumela Primary School in Chebeng Village, Polokwane, on January 20 2014, has received international media attention. As a result, government was forced to fast-track its plans to eradicate pit latrines in all SA schools, but that still seems a distant dream that is unlikely to be realised in our lifetime.
According to Sibusiso Khasa of Amnesty International SA, there are nearly 3,000 state schools in the country that still have pit toilets. There is clearly no political will to improve the learning and teaching environment in rural schools; the governing ANC assumed control of government 30 years ago, yet we still find so many schools without proper sanitation. There is no more effective way to destroy a country than not to invest in education.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
E Cape Education Department says most pit latrines have been modernisedVIDEO | The Eastern Cape Education Department says it has eradicated more than 800 pit latrine toilets in the province through the Basic Education's eradication programme, SAFE. The province had a backlog of more than 1 400 pit latrines.
Read more »
Eastern Cape Education claims to have eradicated 800 pit latrine toilets - SABC NewsThe Eastern Cape Education Department says to have eradicated over 800 pit latrine toilets in the province. According to the report, this was accomplished through the Basic Education eradication program (SAFE).
Read more »
SANITATION CRISIS OP-ED: In the mission to eradicate pit toilets, this new progress monitor democratises data for Limpopo schoolsFor years it has been almost impossible for civil society to know whether the removal of pit toilets and other inadequate sanitation would ever be prioritised by the Limpopo education department – while pupils faced the daily risk of injury and even death in poor sanitation conditions.
Read more »
They ate from his 2-year-old daughter's hand, says the owner of two pit bulls that killed a granny | News24When he closes his eyes, Shafiek du Plooy can still see his elderly neighbour's horrifically mutilated body as she lay curled into a ball, dead after his dogs mauled her. | TammyPetersen87
Read more »
A bad week for Angie MotshekgaHer statistics of improvement in ablutions might have been reassuring, if those of Section 27, which monitors the issue, were not available for comparison: at the beginning of the 2023 school year, for example, 65,940 pupils in 210 Limpopo schools still had to use pit toilets
Read more »
A bad week for Angie MotshekgaHer statistics of improvement in ablutions might have been reassuring, if those of Section 27, which monitors the issue, were not available for comparison: at the beginning of the 2023 school year, for example, 65,940 pupils in 210 Limpopo schools still had to use pit toilets
Read more »