School sewage fears for parents
AS THE reopening of schools draws closer, parents with pupils at Pescodia Primary School in Kimberley have indicated that they are afraid to send their children back to the school due to sewage problems.
The school has a long history of challenges with overflowing sewage on its premises.
Parents said that before the lockdown the Department of Education had tried to address the problem by providing two mobile toilets, which had to be used by the teachers and the more than 1 000 pupils.
“The problems with the toilets and sanitation at the school have been ongoing since the 1990s.
Last year community members protested about this problem, which is always only temporarily addressed in order to keep parents quiet. The school at first had no toilet facilities and we had to first protest in order for the department to provide two temporary toilets for the school. These toilets, however, only served as a temporary solution. The school was also closed in the middle of last year because of overflowing sewage on the school’s premises. The department expects us to let our children attend school in these unhygienic circumstances. We are currently faced with the coronavirus and we have been preached to about maintaining a hygienic environment. How do we send our children back to school knowing the problems that the school is facing?” they said.
One of the parents said she had requested the school to allow parents to inspect the toilet facilities before the school reopened on Monday.
“My son is in Grade 7 and I am very worried about sending my child back as we are not certain whether there are clean and working toilets at the school. I have sent a message to the deputy principal asking him whether the challenges with the toilets have been addressed, however, he has not responded. My son contracted an infection last year due to the unhygienic state of these temporary toilets,” said the parent.
She added that some parents had gone to the school earlier this week to assess the readiness of the facility, but they were denied access to the premises.
“We are not sure whether it is safe to send our children back to school. I am not feeling confident about the safety of my son should he return to school on Monday.”
Northern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Lehuma
Ntuane gave the reassurance that the department had addressed all challenges at schools in the Province.
“We have appointed contractors to address issues at those schools that had infrastructural challenges, whether this was in terms of ablution facilities or the availability of water, as we want to ensure that all schools open on Monday,” said Ntuane.
In May 2019, parents barricaded the roads around the school with burning tyres and rocks and threatened to close the school. The parents demanded that a permanent solution be found to the problem of overflowing sewage, pointing out that the pupils and teachers became ill as a result of pools of sewage flooding the premises.