Durban - One in four schools still used pit latrines as at the end of July – and 196 of the 24 793 public schools countrywide had no adequate sanitation, not even pit toilets, according to a parliamentary response.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said that by 2016 all schools should have basic services as set out in the minimum uniform norms and standards regulations. While schools without any sanitation would be prioritised, those using pit latrines may not be upgraded to flush toilets.
“It is not a foregone conclusion that all schools should be provided with flush toilets... some areas to do not have access to reliable water supply to support the provision of flush toilets,” the minister said.
According to the minimum norms and standards, in force since November, sanitation could be waterborne, ventilated improved pit latrines, also known as VIPs, composing toilets or small-bore sewer reticulation facilities.
In KwaZulu-Natal there are 3 419 pit toilets at schools, while a further 518 schools in the province have no electricity, the DA’s spokeswoman for education, Mbali Ntuli, said.
The figures were contained in a parliamentary reply to questions posed by the DA.
Pit toilets were not only dangerous – last year a pupil died after falling into one – they also spread disease and bacteria. For a school to function effectively without electricity was virtually impossible. Certainly, the use of computers and other critical education aids fell by the wayside, further compromising pupils, Ntuli said.
She said at a recent provincial education portfolio committee meeting the department had stressed that those schools most in need of infrastructure would be the focus so that they meet the norms and standards for schools by 2016.
Muzi Mahlambi, spokesman for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, promised to respond to questions by the Daily News yesterday but had not by the time of publishing.
Meanwhile, less than one in four post offices is a safe place to work as 618 post office buildings have been denied occupational health and safety certificates – and it will cost R42.7 million to bring them up to standard, according to another parliamentary reply.
Reasons for the denial included inadequate ventilation, the lack of emergency or escape routes and structural deficiencies, said Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele.
The minister said it would take three years to bring the inadequate offices into line with legislative requirements.
Daily News