Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, accompanied by Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule and Basic Education Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, briefed the Portfolio Committee (PC) on Basic Education on World Toilet Day. “Since I took office, one of my highest priorities has been to ensure that our efforts to eradicate pit toilets are executed effectively, efficiently and transparently to ensure the safe and dignified environments conducive for learners and educators by 31 March 2025 as mandated by the President”.
The Minister of Finance tabled the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament on 30 October 2024, with a further allocation of R376 million to the education sector, supporting targeted initiatives to build, improve and maintain infrastructure within the sector whilst supporting education outcomes. The announced adjustment budget makes R20 million available for the provision of workbooks, while R35 million is made available to address the sector’s pressing school infrastructure needs. The Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) and the School Infrastructure Backlog Grant (SIBG) will be merged to deal with infrastructure backlogs at a provincial level, with the DBE having a more robust oversight role.
The DBE launched the Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) in 2011 and the Sanitation Appropriate For Education (SAFE) initiative in 2018 to ensure appropriate sanitation at schools dependent on basic pit toilets. Both programmes are funded from the SIBG. All 331 ASIDI schools made entirely of inappropriate materials have been replaced. All 1,336 water supply projects on ASIDI have been completed. All of the 373 electricity supply projects have been completed. All of the 1,087 ASIDI sanitation projects have been replaced. To address overcrowding, DBE plans to build 65 classrooms/teaching space on the ASIDI programme in the 2023/2024 financial year. To date, 18 classrooms have been completed. Sharing progress on SAFE, as from 2018 to date, of the 3,375 SAFE sanitation projects, 3,145 have been completed by the DBE, PEDs and corporate and social partners.
Aspects of learner safety that have been considered in all projects include walkways above ground level, lockable manholes, frosted windows and screen walls. Grade R facilities are fenced off for their protection with dwarf walls and age-appropriate toilets seats. Learners with disabilities are also catered for with ramps and hand grips. She Bins are installed for Menstrual Hygiene Management for girl learners. Old structures are demolished and soil is rehabilitated for gardening.
Monitoring meetings between the Ministry, DG and Implementing Agents take place on a weekly basis and the DG has visited a total of 4,133 construction sites, whilst the Infrastructure Team has visited 888 sites, and the Programme Support Unit has visited 15,140 sites. “All provinces benefitted from ASIDI, but mainly the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Kwazulu-Natal has been the main focus provinces for school infrastructure; however, infrastructure is a moving target and we are continually faced by new demands. People are flooding to cities as areas of economic activities across all provinces, and in the Gauteng Province, at least 60 new schools are needed, explained Dr Mhaule.
DG Mweli, indicated the difference between basic pit toilets and Appropriate Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) toilets used in water scarce areas. He stressed the importance of maintenance and upkeep of school infrastructure as 60% of the EIG allocations must go towards these. “The monitoring and evaluation of construction is done by the DBE, provincial and district officials, but our challenges are many; these include capacity; implementing agents; the construction mafia; vandalism; and unreliable data to name but a few. A condition assessment for all provinces, districts and schools by independent infrastructure experts is the only way of ensuring a reliable audit”.