TOILET SHAME
School toilets in deplorable condition Students forced to relieve themselves in bushes
Some schools, especially in the Northwest District, do not have functional toilets, a Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) school inspection has discovered. “Some schools have no working toilets, forcing students to go into the bushes. Others are forced to use pit latrines as those with flushing systems have broken down,” BTU Vice President (Primary) Bakang Bagwasi, said.
The inspection, which was conducted ahead of the re-opening of schools, also observed with great concern how in one school, teachers were forced to share only one toilet with other school staff. “By staff, I mean everyone, from cooks to groundsmen and Tirelo Sechaba employees. Both men and women share that one toilet,” Bagwasi said. He advised the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to do a better job by contracting skilled people to do maintenance in schools. He said this would prevent situations of repeat maintenance that lead to great inconveniences. “I also urge the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE) to consider closing schools with no working toilets. This is because working toilets and clean water are at the top of the priority list during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We appreciate the vaccine given to teachers but remember it’s not a cure we still need to be cautious,” he said. When the country ran out of the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines early this week, Botswana Secondary School Teachers Union (BOSETU) was equally impressed and convinced that almost 70 percent of teachers had been vaccinated. The government finally bent on prioritising the vaccination of teachers last week after several calls by teacher unions to vaccinate teachers. The unions were threatening that they would not go into classrooms if their plea is not be heeded. By the end of last week, the majority of teachers were all smiling to have finally received the much-needed jab.
“We appreciate that the government finally listened to us, teachers were dying, we had lost over 120+ and the numbers kept growing. We wish the government could have long listened to us before losing so many lives,” BOSETU mouthpiece Oreeditse Nyatso said.
Nyatso is hopeful that the majority, if not all teachers will be vaccinated before schools reopen. Nyatso said this is the only way to protect both teachers and the non-teaching staff from the ravaging effects of Covid-19.
He pleaded with parents to continue monitoring the movements of their children to minimise transmission.
The dusty road in the outskirts of Gaborone leads to a homestead with a forlorn appearance of poverty and despair. A young lady emerges from what appears to be a onebedroomed house. She mumbles an apology for not having anything appropriate for us to sit. We oblige by sitting on the empty buckets and bricks. Naledi has been physically, sexually, and financially abused by her partner for the past seven years. She only reported him last year after she ended up in the intensive care unit with a split lip, a punctured lung, and a few broken bones. For the entire duration of the relationship, Naledi was abused. If he was not beating her up, he was demanding all her earnings from the menial household chores that she did. “I would have to beg him for money to buy sanitary pads, and on good days he gave me some on others I would resort to using cloths and toilet paper,” she said. With a slight chuckle, she recalls how he would take all her money and come back home drunk to demand a meal and insult her for failure to cook like other women. On the fateful day that she landed in the hospital, Naledi had hidden some money to buy some food for her ailing mother. “It was during the lockdown. Money was scarce while the trade of illicit homebrews was rife. He walked in as I was counting the money and he was furious. “He unleashed slaps and fists on my face. He beat me till I passed out and left me for dead. He then took the money and went to drink.” Naledi was rescued by her neighbour after she managed to crawl to the door to call for help Her experience is however an isolated incident as there was a surge of GBV statistics during the nationwide lockdown. Many people who found solace at schools or at their workplaces were confined in close proximity to their abusers. Physically, Naledi was back to her beautiful self and was eating better due to the absence of her tormentor. However, emotionally she was still hurting. She still has nightmares of her ordeal. She finds it hard to socialise because people still see her as the girl who was almost beaten to death by her partner.