LISTEN: Ramaphosa launches initiative to eradicate pit toilets
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Department of Basic Education launched the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative on Tuesday.
The aim of the project is to eradicate pit toilets and upgrade infrastructure in schools, by bringing together the government, the NGO sector, and the private sector.
Over 3000 schools across the country still make use of pit toilets.
In March, Ramaphosa instructed Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to urgently present a plan, after the death of 5-year-old Lumka Mkethwa from the Eastern Cape, who fell into a pit toilet at Luna Primary School.
ALSO READ: Parliament should appoint NPA head - expert
Mkethwa's death comes four years after the death of 5-year-old Micheal Komape who also died after falling into a pit toilet at Mahlodumela Primary School in Limpopo.
“Today we are doing something about it, the utterly tragic and devastating deaths of children so young and so innocent, remind us of the human consequences of service delivery that is deferred, derailed, delayed and also denied to our people,” said Ramaphosa.
He said this initiative has reminded government to not only focus on what it has achieved in the last 24 years of democracy but to focus more on what still needs to be done.
The department says the schools with the most pit toilets are in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West.
The initiative seeks to build toilets that are age appropriate, especially for grade R pupils.
“We cannot expose our learners and educators to an environment that is not conjunctive to teaching and learning and still expect excellent education outcomes. We will also be contributing to the broader goal of decent sanitation for all our people,” added Ramaphosa
.
Over R100 million in pledges was raised at the launch.