Johannesburg - To most people, Tuesday marked the anniversary of the 1976 youth uprising, but to advocacy group Equal Education (EE) it meant something else.
Tuesday was the deadline for Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi to resolve the sanitation crisis in schools in the province.
To mark the time limit, EE released a six-minute video chronicling its youth-led audit of sanitation in more than 200 schools.
The audit, conducted in March and April, found that more than 25 percent of the schools surveyed have more than 400 pupils for every maintenance staff member, and one in five toilets was either broken or locked.
It also revealed that in 30 percent of the high schools audited, more than 100 pupils shared a working toilet, 70 percent of schools had no access to soap, and 40 percent had no access to either toilet paper or sanitary pads.
After the audit, EE challenged Lesufi to, among other things, establish a Gauteng-appropriate standard/ratio for sanitation, provide a model budget for schools and publicly begin blacklisting contractors who underperform.
The video shows Lesufi accepting the challenge and agreeing to a deadline, but when EE tried to follow up, it was stonewalled.
EE said: “Exactly a month ago, we held the Gauteng Schools Social Audit Summit in Soweto to announce the results of our audit. We demanded the Gauteng Department of Education fix the sanitation crisis by June 16. As shown in the film, MEC Lesufi fully accepted the demands unconditionally.
“As such, today also marks the deadline for him to keep his promise. Over the past month we have written to MEC Lesufi’s office and requested a meeting with his staff to follow up on these promises as well as discuss our audit results.
“However, as of writing, we are yet to receive a response.”
The MEC’s spokeswoman, Phumla Sekhonyane, reiterated the department’s commitment to the provision of proper sanitation at all schools.
“The MEC has announced a programme of dealing with sanitation, which includes the identification of the 50 worst schools that will be overhauled,” she said. “This programme will commence when the schools are closed to ensure that there is no disruption to teaching and learning. The department is also undertaking a process of installing interactive boards in matric classes.”
Sekhonyane said Lesufi would elaborate on Friday during his budget vote speech in the Gauteng legislature.
The Star