It is an outright violation of children’s dignity, health and basic human rights.
There is no other way to explain the troubling situation at Pellsrus Primary School in Jeffreys Bay.
There are only six functioning toilets for 1,246 pupils.
For more than a year, these pupils have endured daily humiliation.
Teachers report disrupted lessons, parents speak of sick children, and the school governing body warns of hazardous rubble left behind by stalled construction work.
Little more than a year ago, the pupils had access to 34 toilets, including urinals, but the facilities were in dire need of a revamp.
It was then decided that a construction company called The Mvula Trust would be hired to handle the maintenance and renovation of the 34 toilets, with work starting in September 2024.
But the repairs have since hit a dead-end, with school governing body (SGB) chair Vivian van Eck recently expressing concern about the fact that construction was halted in December 2024.
A Herald team visited the school during lunchtime on Monday and witnessed how pupils queued outside the few functioning toilets before they had to get back to class.
Carol Hammond, the school’s learner support agent, said several of the little girls had also been sent to her office because of bladder infections seemingly caused by the situation.
The provincial branch of the SA Human Rights Commission has since urged the education department to intervene as the situation may infringe on the pupils’ rights to dignity, health and basic education.
The department’s pledge to provide portable toilets is a poor substitute for safe, permanent facilities that should already have been in place months ago.
No child should be forced to choose between their health and their dignity simply because adults cannot deliver on their responsibilities.
These pupils deserve better.
The Herald
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