In response to Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube’s announcement that the 2018 Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative backlog of pit toilets has been completely eradicated, Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed said:
“The complete eradication of pit toilets in schools which were part of the SAFE initiative is an important step towards the fulfilment and protection of learners’ rights and safety. While we welcome this long overdue development, there are many schools still using pit toilets which have not been accounted for.
“Going forward the department must conduct an updated audit of all schools still using pit toilets, which includes those that were not part of the SAFE initiative, and include Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres. It must then outline how it plans to eradicate all remaining pit toilets in schools and ECD centres with clear timelines.
“The presence of pit toilets in any school violates learners’ rights to health, sanitation, education, dignity and in some cases, life.”
Background
Genevieve Quintal, Media and Communications Officer, Amnesty International South Africa: +27 (0)64 890 9224; genevieve.quintal@amnesty.org.za
