JOHANNESBURG - The Basic Education Department has been asked to urgently provide an update on the eradication of plain pit toilets in public schools.
Amnesty International South Africa says the department hasn't outlined progress made since it promised to eradicate pit toilets from all schools within the 2022/2023 financial year.
Thousands of schools in South Africa still use pit toilets.
"We're seeing different stats and figures under different programmes so it does become harder to keep track of overall progress made," said the organisation's Alicia Jooste.
"We're not seeing the release of crucial reports like the 2022 national education infrastructure management system report which breaks down, per province, how many schools are still using pit toilets.
"So we were hoping for an update now that the end of the financial year has passed when they had said the eradication of pit toilets will happen by, that hasn't happened. So we're all urgently requesting that they do so."