Two-thirds of Khayelitsha primary schools don’t have enough toilets for pupils.
|||Cape Town - Two-thirds of Khayelitsha primary schools don’t have enough toilets for pupils.
And at a school in Site B there was one toilet for every 177 pupils, according to research by City of Cape Town Health completed in 2011.
Findings included:
* Many toilets and urinals were not working.
* Toilet paper was not available at 41 percent of schools.
* Soap for handwashing was not available at 79 percent of schools.
* Sanibins were not available at 65 percent of schools.
An audit found the shortage of toilets in the schools was worsened by broken toilets and urinals. “The learners/toilet ratio is over double the ‘norm’ in more than half the schools and in six schools it goes up to three to six times the ‘norm’.”
It cited 1:29 as the norm for the ratio of toilets to pupils.
The audit did not name the 34 schools but listed the areas in which they were located. According to the audit, the schools with the highest ratios of pupils per toilet were situated in Town 2, Harare, Kuyasa and Site B.
Six cases were found to be “extreme” - schools which were found to have between three and six times too many pupils using them.
The audit found that washbasins were also in short supply, with several not working and in three schools it was found half were not working.
Sanibins were found at just a third of schools and where they were available, there were not enough, which contributed to the blocking of toilets.
Toilet paper was not available at nearly half of the schools and soap for hand washing was not available at 79 percent of schools checked.
The audit made a number of recommendations. “In schools that are not meeting the learners/toilet norm, toilets that are not in working order must be repaired, including urinals. Where the ratio of learners per toilet is twice the norm, new toilets need to be introduced.”
It recommended that the six “extreme” schools should not be allowed to reopen until the problems were resolved.
Sanibins, toilets paper and soap should be provided to schools which were in need of them.
Faulty wash basins also needed to be fixed, the audit recommended.
Lungiswa James, the city’s mayco member for health, said it was premature to draw any conclusions about the audit.
“This is a draft report, the contents of which have not been finalised or properly analysed. Only once these processes have been completed, will be the city be in a position to provide comment.”
Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant, said 17 Khayelitsha schools had made 20 requests for emergency maintenance funding for their ablution facilities in 2011.
She said this was as a result of vandalism or the need for urgent repairs.
The Western Cape Education Department had provided R1.4 million.
Casey said the department had not been presented with this audit’s findings prior to being contacted by the Cape Times.
“This ‘audit’ is a very vague document with no identifiable references.
“There is no mention of the schools involved.
“The report also speaks of norms, but then fails to provide the source of these norms.”
michelle.jones@inl.co.za
Cape Times