Statement by KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Ina Cronje at the official opening of the 12 087th school toilet since April 2004 in KwaZulu-Natal

A group of grade sevens (both boys and girls) were asked to photograph "safe places" and "not so safe places" at their school near Swaziland. This was part of a recent study by the University of KwaZulu-Natal to tap into the voices of young people on sexual violence and safety in their school. It came as no surprise that both boys and girls identified the toilets as danger zones. The unsanitary condition of many of the toilets was confirmed by the photographs taken.

Some toilets had no doors so that there was a sense of no privacy and that they were not safe for girls: "You can be raped in the toilets," wrote one of the girls. Decent toilets are part of human dignity and this department has pulled out all stops to provide clean, safe private places. For children and young people to stay healthy they need to drink water regularly throughout the day. They also have to use the toilets when they need to. Our children and teachers spend at least half their waking hours at school. Avoiding using school toilets because of inadequate facilities can lead to long and short term health problems.

It also affects a child's ability to concentrate in class and therefore his or her ability to learn. The lack of proper sanitation makes schools unsafe places where diseases are transmitted easily. This impairs children's growth and development, limits school attendance and negatively affects students' ability to concentrate and learn. According to a 2005 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report about 40% of the world's 400 million school age children are infested with intestinal worms. About one in 10 school-age African girls do not attend school during menstruation or drop out at puberty because of the lack of clean and private sanitation facilities in schools.

The sanitation situation at our schools in KwaZulu-Natal was shocking: A report in 2003 found more than 300 schools without any toilets not even a hole in the ground. This legacy of the past proved to be even worse than the 2003 report indicated many existing toilets have reached their expiry dates and have to be replaced. I am pleased to say that we have made a huge difference in the lives of our children and teachers in this regard.

Since 2004 the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has provided more toilets at schools than ever before. Today, on 16 October 2007, I will officially open 12 087 toilet that has been delivered since April 2004 at the oldest primary school in the Edendale area. The school was established in 1934 by the Catholic Church before it became a public school in the early 1980's. The school started with smelly pit latrines, which filled up quickly before new ones had to be dug. The situation improved in the early 90s with the introduction of a septic tank system and the building of nine toilets.

However, nine toilets for 927 learners and 25 educators were totally inadequate.
In addition the low walls, which had only been half built, did not offer any privacy. One can just imagine how embarrassing this was for our learners and our educators, who had to share these facilities with the learners. The odours coming from the toilets at times reportedly distracted teaching and learning. In November 2006 educators and learners were as understandably very excited when the building of decent, clean and private toilets started at their school.

Two new toilet blocks were built one for educators (housing three toilets for women and one plus a urinal for men) and another for the boys (five toilets and a urinal), while the old block with its nine toilets was renovated and improved to accommodate only the girls. For the first time the school has sufficient and private sanitation. There is also a toilet for physically disabled people.
According to the ward manager the toilets are now always clean as learners are taught about health promoting skills. The water and sanitation programme has a holistic approach whereby issues, such as health and hygiene education, food gardens and operation and maintenance issues are all taken into consideration.
I am very pleased to have learnt that Henryville Primary participated in the recent Garden Show, while they have also been actively involved in the Collect a Can Competition, in which they have already won three prizes this year (R500 in May and R1 000 in July and August respectively).

Henryville has the privilege of having access to piped water. In many of our schools in the rural areas water is a scarce commodity. Therefore our water and sanitation programme also includes the provision of water tanks. The actual provision of water to the water tanks is the responsibility of the district municipalities. Some of them do not have water tankers and schools have to harvest rainwater as a result. This can obviously only be done when it rains!

The issue of why we do not provide "flush toilets" at all our schools is often raised. The reason is quite simple without piped water, which is provided by the municipalities, it becomes an impossible exercise. However, the new ventilated improved pit latrines are a great improvement on the old pit latrines, which could not be cleared out.

Should piped water come to the area, these toilets can also be converted to waterborne toilets. Vandalism and theft remains a challenge especially when we talk toilets. For instance, I am still most concerned by reports of huge numbers of tap heads that we lose at our schools. Effective school management, as well as community mobilisation, seem to be the answer to this problem, as proven at some of our schools. Several implementing agents have been instrumental in the building of the toilets.

Besides the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Works, the Independent Development Trust, Ithala Development Finance Corporation and Umgeni Water, the Department of Education has trained and used emerging contractors mostly women to fast track the building of toilets and other infrastructure in the province. In addition it has also been training former combatants to build school toilets in a joint venture with the Office of the Premier. The first group of these former soldiers has now been appointed as contractors and is building toilets at schools in Msinga.

Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
16 October 2007