Equal Education calls for better schools

The Equal Education organisation will stop at nothing to get the attention of Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.

About 100 members braved the Cape winter and spent last night outside parliament.

It was the start of a two-night candlelight vigil to urge Motshekga to adopt her department's own school infrastructure standards, supposed to have been in place by March.

Before sunset yesterday, high school pupils, parents and activists stacked mattresses outside parliament and set up a public address system and generator in preparation for the night.

Pathiswa Shushwana, 17, from Luhlaza High School in Khayelitsha, said: "We want to show the minister that we are serious about our education.

"We have been picketing and inviting the minister to come and hear us, but she never came."

Parent Andiswa Kolonisa said: "Ministers send their own kids to model C schools. This shows that something is terribly wrong with our schools. There is a huge difference between public schools in other areas and township and rural schools."

Yoliswa Dwane, Equal Education's head of policy, said that of the 24460 public schools in the country 3600 had no electricity, 2444 had no water, only 7847 had flush toilets, 970 had no ablution facilities and 11231 had pit latrines.