Johannesburg - Section27 has welcomed the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) latest plans to eradicate pit toilets across the country, and provide proper sanitation infrastructures in schools.
This comes after Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga assured that the department was committed to eradicating pit latrines at schools by 2025.
The issue of pit toilets has been on going for over a decade, education bodies and the public went as far as marching to the department calling for their eradication, as they posed a danger and health challenges to the pupils.
Motshekga held a media briefing on Sunday to update citizens on new developments in the education sector, especially in school infrastructure.
Section27 said it was looking forward to meaningful engagement on the national plan to eradicate pit toilets forever.
The organization in partnership with the Centre for Child Law (CCL), launched the Michael Komape Sanitation Progress Monitor at Constitutional Hill on Friday during the Human Rights Festival.
It’s named after five-year-old Komape who drowned in a pit toilet at his school in Limpopo in 2014.
According to Section 27, the monitor will track progress made by the Limpopo Department of Education (LDoE) on eliminating unsafe and undignified sanitation including pit toilets at public schools, and installation of safe and decent sanitation facilities.
“As of January 2023, data provided by LDoE reveals that over 65,940 learners from 210 schools rely exclusively on pit toilets. That slightly improved from data supplied by LDoE in December 2021, where 116,299 learners from 363 schools relied on pit toilets.
“There are 153 schools (42% of the original 363 “Priority 1” schools, which are schools with pit toilets only) where work is reported to be complete, or where toilets are considered adequate,” it said.
The monitor will combine all the data submitted by the LDoE in their revised plans to eradicate inadequate sanitation in the province, and their biannual progress reports to the High Court since December 2021, in one place.
“The information in this tool is therefore the most up-to-date information provided by the LDoE on the state of sanitation in Limpopo’s public schools. It will, at the very least, be updated every six months, or whenever new data bundles are submitted to the court,” the public interest organisation, added.
Section27 further called on learners, parents, school communities, media, and other stakeholders, to use the tool to collectively put pressure on the LDoE and hold the department to account.
Meanwhile, the LDoE is on a deadline to eradicate all pit toilets in schools by March 31.
“The tool has a countdown clock that shows the time remaining until March 31. By this deadline, the number of schools with pit toilets only should be zero.
“If there are still Priority 1 schools with pit toilets after the deadline, the countdown clock will show the number of days and hours over the deadline,” it said.
The DBE and Section27 will have a meeting over the Komape Judgement awarding damages for emotional shock and grief to each member of the Komape family.
kamogelo.moichela@inl.co.za
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