Pit latrine Photo Credit :poco_bw
Equal Education demands the Limpopo Department of Education to meet its own deadlines to replace dangerous pit toilets in Limpopo schools immediately.
In a statement issued by Equal Education (EE) stated that 1 April 2023, was the deadline for the Limpopo Department of Education (LDoE) to provide schools under priority 1–schools that solely rely on plain pit toilets—with appropriate sanitation facilities, as part of its court-ordered infrastructure delivery plan.
However, the LDoE’s latest implementation report received in December 2023 indicates that 80 of the identified 566 schools under priority 1 have yet to receive proper toilets, with construction still to be started in some.
The court order related to the tragic passing of Michael Komape after falling into a pit toilet at his primary school in Limpopo reinforced the LDoE’s legal duty to develop a reasonable plan for replacing all plain pit toilets in Limpopo schools.
“At the beginning of the 2024 school year, EE revisited two priority 1 schools in the Capricorn District, Tutwana and Mashashane Primary Schools as part of our monitoring of implementation of the Komape court order. We found that there has been little progress made since our visits last year, with learners at Mashashane still using dangerous plain pit toilets while learners at Tutwana had four temporary toilets,” said the statement
Limpopo Department of Education spokesperson Mosebjane Kgaffe said upgrades had been completed at 497 of the 566 priority 1 schools.
“More than 80% of priority 1 schools have been attended to. The rest will be completed before the rainy season. The department has been providing chemical toilets where construction is in progress. Challenges delaying progress at priority 1 schools include disruption of construction projects by community forums, incidents of poor performance by contractors, and budget cuts,” said Kgaffe.
TWO GIYANI SCHOOLS HANDED OVER TO CONTRACTORS
Meanwhile MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya has handed over contractors to 2 dilapiated schools in Giyani townships.
The high enrolled and dilapidated schools in Section E and D1, respectively, have been on the infrastructure list for a couple of years.
Ritlhavile Secondary school has only two classroom blocks and a few mobile classrooms. The school will receive an additional classroom block, a computer laboratory, administration block and refurbishment of the standing structures, amongst other things.
The multimillion rand project will also cater towards the enhancement of sanitation facilities.
Ndzalama Primary School, another infrastructure needy school, will also receive a massive boost from the approved coming project.
The finalization of the project will see the construction of 16 new classrooms, a science laboratory, ablution facilities and admin blocks, just to name a few. The construction in the two schools is expected to start in April this year.
MEC Lerule-Ramakhanya believes that the rolling of school infrastructure will have a positive impact on the year of academic excellence as declared by the MEC in January 2024.
“I have today handed over contractors to two needy schools in Giyani to immediately commence with the construction of the much needed infrastructure. I believe for us to excel academically, learners must have infrastructure and proper resources. We are going to push the two contractors to complete the work on time, ” MEC Lerule-Ramakhanya said.
The Department has budgeted R1,533 billion for infrastructure for the current financial year.