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pit latrineslatest news & developments
The increase in learners is exacerbated by people relocating to Gauteng, and private-public partnerships are required to address overcrowding. File photo
BASIC EDUCATION

Gauteng needs 200 more schools, says education MEC Chiloane

During the 2023-24 financial year, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape only built one school each

  • Umamah Bakharia
3 min read
Basic education minister, Siviwe Gwarube. (Lefty Shivambu/Gallo)
BACKLOG OF INFRASTRUCTURE

Equal Education slams Gwarube over claim that 90% of schools now in a better condition

According to the department of basic education, 93% of 3 372 pit latrines have been replaced with appropriate sanitation facilities

  • Umamah Bakharia
4 min read
Ministers will assess progress since the Africa Foundational Learning Exchange (FLEX 2024) commitment to end learning poverty within a decade, alongside the declarations from last year’s Continental Conference on Education in Mauritania. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
CLASSROOMS

Education department failed to build or renovate schools in four provinces in 2023-24 financial year

Education department failed to build or renovate schools in four provinces in 2023-44 financial year

  • Umamah Bakharia
3 min read
Pupils of Barkerville Primary School, Eastern Cape, in a creative pose in front of the newly installed Arumloo Dewdrop toilets.
ACCESS TO SAFE SANITATION

Addressing poor sanitation in South African schools

Access to safe sanitation is not just a matter of comfort or convenience; it is a fundamental human right

  • Welcome Mandla Lishivha
14 min read
Photo by Delwyn Verasamy/M&G
CHOLERA

Editorial: Fix our water crisis now

Now is the time for accountability. Our leaders must deal with the consequences of their failures.

  • Ozayr Patel
2 min read
Pit latrines in Govan Mbeki municipality. A four year old child’s body was found in a pit latrine. (Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
EDUCATION

Pit toilets in schools violate human rights

The inequality in services provided is a legacy of apartheid

  • Oyisa Sondlo
4 min read
Nyanga High School in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape
EDUCATION

The ‘place’ of education

A geographer and teacher reflects on how physical spaces can influence emotional places

  • Iviwe Mtubu
6 min read
All toilets need some sort of system to deal with the resultant sewage in a safe manner or be connected to a communal treatment system for that purpose.
COURT CASE

Section 27 back in court to argue for the eradication of pit toilets in Limpopo

Section 27 says the plans the Limpopo department has provided for getting rid of pit toilets are not clear and offer no timelines

  • Bongekile Macupe
5 min read
On Sunday, the Eastern Cape education department’s superintendent-general, Themba Konjane, issued an instruction that grades 3, 6, 11 and certain groups of learners in special needs schools will only return to school on July 20. (Madelene Cronjé)
COVID 19

Very few believe provincial education departments are suddenly efficient

Ordinary citizens have not forgotten that schools were failing before the virus crisis

  • Bongekile Macupe
3 min read
Graphic: John McCann
4IR

Build infrastructure to support the fourth industrial revolution

Technology has the potential to solve many of the country’s social problems such as electricity production and the eradication of pit latrines

  • Tshilidzi Marwala
6 min read