It said the persistent infrastructure challenges facing some schools in the province were having a negative impact on the provision of quality teaching and learning.
Mbinqo-Gigaba said the committee would raise its concerns in its meeting with the MEC for education, Mbali Frazer.
“While we are cognisant of the infrastructure backlog and the unavailability of enough financial resources to remedy the deficiency, the committee has urged for more resources to be directed at remedying the problem. It is unfathomable that some learners are still utilising mud structures that were built by communities many years ago to make available learning environments. It is even more worrying that this affects mostly the poor in rural areas.”
Mbinqo-Gigaba said some of the recommendations made during the committee's visit to the Harry Gwala educational district in 2021 were not implemented.
This pointed to dereliction of duty on the part of the provincial department of education officials, she said.
The committee has recommended the department investigate this matter and carry out consequence management in cases where officials had failed to do their work.
“The committee has called for the department to provide an update on the roll-out of the sanitation appropriate for education (Safe) programme to enable the committee to assess the impact and provide solutions to impediments.”
The committee urged the department to strengthen its support to schools in relation to subject advisers to ensure improvements are made in the delivery of learning areas.
“The progressive improvement of the delivery of learning areas will strengthen learning and improve the system in general,” she said.
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Parliamentary committee concerned some KZN schools still using pit toilets
Image: File/ Alaister Russell
Parliament's portfolio committee on basic education has raised concerns about water and sanitation issues which remain a challenge in many KwaZulu-Natal schools.
The committee raised this concern during its weeklong oversight visit to the province.
The committee, led by the chairperson Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, said it was of concern that some schools are still using pit latrines that pose a danger, especially for young pupils.
In the pipeline: department has a year to replace pit latrines at 1,549 schools
It said the persistent infrastructure challenges facing some schools in the province were having a negative impact on the provision of quality teaching and learning.
Mbinqo-Gigaba said the committee would raise its concerns in its meeting with the MEC for education, Mbali Frazer.
“While we are cognisant of the infrastructure backlog and the unavailability of enough financial resources to remedy the deficiency, the committee has urged for more resources to be directed at remedying the problem. It is unfathomable that some learners are still utilising mud structures that were built by communities many years ago to make available learning environments. It is even more worrying that this affects mostly the poor in rural areas.”
Mbinqo-Gigaba said some of the recommendations made during the committee's visit to the Harry Gwala educational district in 2021 were not implemented.
This pointed to dereliction of duty on the part of the provincial department of education officials, she said.
The committee has recommended the department investigate this matter and carry out consequence management in cases where officials had failed to do their work.
“The committee has called for the department to provide an update on the roll-out of the sanitation appropriate for education (Safe) programme to enable the committee to assess the impact and provide solutions to impediments.”
The committee urged the department to strengthen its support to schools in relation to subject advisers to ensure improvements are made in the delivery of learning areas.
“The progressive improvement of the delivery of learning areas will strengthen learning and improve the system in general,” she said.
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Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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