JOHANNESBURG -Despite a national promise to eliminate pit latrines in schools, thousands of pupils are still using unsafe and undignified ablutions.
The issue has come under renewed scrutiny after a six-year-old boy drowned in an unsecured septic tank at Umzila Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal.
While the Education Department claims that 97 percent of pit latrines have been eliminated, civil society groups like Section27 are raising serious concerns.
They say gaps in infrastructure, unfinished construction, and inadequate mobile toilets paint a far more concerning picture, especially in rural, under-resourced areas.
Section27's education rights attorney, Thato Gaffane, unpacks this matter further.