Glimmer of hope to end pit toilets?

Youth-led rights group, Equal Education, has cautiously welcomed the Department of Basic Education’s commitment to submit a detailed report with timelines on when it plans to rid Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo schools of pit latrines.

The department says this will be done within the 60 days’ timeline given by Members of Parliament following a portfolio committee meeting last week on basic education in Parliament.

The unhygienic and dangerous open toilets are a legacy of apartheid and while government has been promising, for years now, to replace them, it has been pushing back its deadlines.

While there is no reliable data on child drownings in the toilets, at least four deaths have occurred in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, over the years.

EE’s researcher, Mafouz Raffee, says according to the education facility management system report from August last year, 3 932 schools are still using the dangerous pit toilets across the country.

 

The Department of Basic Education is yet to respond to YNews’ questions on the nature of the challenges that have been necessitating the deadline changes over the years.