Cape Town - About 80 schoolchildren gathered at Parliament on Thursday morning as advocacy group Equal Education (EE) organised a march against changes to the Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure.
EE noted that the proposed changes, if passed, will mean that learners and teachers will wait for years for safe and proper school infrastructure.
“Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga signed the Norms and Standards into law in 2013, following years of tireless campaigning led by EE members (learners, post-school youths, teachers and parents) – supported by legal action.
“Never before did South Africa have a law that says what basic infrastructure a school must have, and by when it must be provided.
“We went to court in 2018 to get Minister Motshekga to fix gaps in the law, not to water it down.
“The most scary change that Minister Motshekga wants to make to the school infrastructure law is to totally remove the deadlines that put the responsibility on the government to get rid of pit toilets – and provide basics such as water, electricity, classrooms, libraries, etc. – by specific dates.
“It is absolutely unhelpful that these changes have been proposed in a difficult to understand document, and that the public have been given a short period of time in which to make sense of the proposed changes and submit feedback to the Department of Basic Education.”
This is a developing story.
Cape Times