PUPILS at a Limpopo primary school are forced to relieve themselves in the bush due to the dilapidated and dangerous state of their toilets.
There are currently four toilet structures meant for 246 pupils at Lukwarani Primary School near Thohoyandou. Two of the four are open, with no walls or shelter. This makes pupils, especially those in Grade R, to be exposed to the public when they choose to use them.
The other two have no doors, further compromising the privacy of the pupils. A bushy area within the school grounds is littered with faeces as some pupils choose to squat there "for privacy's sake", school governing body chairman Nelson Magwedzeni told Sowetan.
Some pupils at the school in Budeli village prefer to use toilets of residents who stay near the school or risk using one of the four ramshackle zinc structures in their school.
Magwedzeni said: "Parents are worried and fear for their children's lives. It all started when a child at a school in the neighbouring village fell into a pit toilet late last year."
He said in November last year, a five-year-old Grade R pupil plunged into an open toilet pit at Tshikhudini Primary School.
Also in Limpopo last year, six- year-old Michael Komape died after falling into a pit toilet at a primary school in Moletjie near Polokwane.
Magwedzeni said parents have been pleading for new toilet structures since 2012.
"It's raining [hard] this season, and those toilets are filling up with water which may drown our children. It's also not safe for them to use the bush because they might be bitten by snakes."
Magwedzeni said the department was aware of their plea as the previous SGB had also written a letter to them requesting safer toilets.
A parent with two children at the school said the toilet problem at Lukwarani was putting the safety and lives of the pupils at risk.
"The young ones are very curious and might end up falling inside the toilet pit," the parent said.
The school principal declined to comment and referred all questions to the department of basic education.
Limpopo education department spokesman Paena Galane said Lukwarani was among the schools whose application for new toilets were submitted late in the last financial year, hence the delay in building them new toilets.
"There are 886 schools that we are providing with water and sanitation. The school is in the late submission [list] of schools sent by Vhembe [district]. It is now in the 2015/6 financial year [list]," said Galane.
Pupils opt for the bush in fear of dilapidated toilets
PUPILS at a Limpopo primary school are forced to relieve themselves in the bush due to the dilapidated and dangerous state of their toilets.
There are currently four toilet structures meant for 246 pupils at Lukwarani Primary School near Thohoyandou. Two of the four are open, with no walls or shelter. This makes pupils, especially those in Grade R, to be exposed to the public when they choose to use them.
The other two have no doors, further compromising the privacy of the pupils. A bushy area within the school grounds is littered with faeces as some pupils choose to squat there "for privacy's sake", school governing body chairman Nelson Magwedzeni told Sowetan.
Some pupils at the school in Budeli village prefer to use toilets of residents who stay near the school or risk using one of the four ramshackle zinc structures in their school.
Magwedzeni said: "Parents are worried and fear for their children's lives. It all started when a child at a school in the neighbouring village fell into a pit toilet late last year."
He said in November last year, a five-year-old Grade R pupil plunged into an open toilet pit at Tshikhudini Primary School.
Also in Limpopo last year, six- year-old Michael Komape died after falling into a pit toilet at a primary school in Moletjie near Polokwane.
Magwedzeni said parents have been pleading for new toilet structures since 2012.
"It's raining [hard] this season, and those toilets are filling up with water which may drown our children. It's also not safe for them to use the bush because they might be bitten by snakes."
Magwedzeni said the department was aware of their plea as the previous SGB had also written a letter to them requesting safer toilets.
A parent with two children at the school said the toilet problem at Lukwarani was putting the safety and lives of the pupils at risk.
"The young ones are very curious and might end up falling inside the toilet pit," the parent said.
The school principal declined to comment and referred all questions to the department of basic education.
Limpopo education department spokesman Paena Galane said Lukwarani was among the schools whose application for new toilets were submitted late in the last financial year, hence the delay in building them new toilets.
"There are 886 schools that we are providing with water and sanitation. The school is in the late submission [list] of schools sent by Vhembe [district]. It is now in the 2015/6 financial year [list]," said Galane.
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