Some 340 pupils from Funeka Primary School near King William’s Town have missed two weeks of the new school year.
This comes amid outraged protests from their parents at the school gates, who are demanding that the education department build new toilets.
A number of the pupils have been treated at the local clinic for infections – apparently because of the school’s filthy toilets.
Provincial education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said it was due to “absence of leadership” at the school that the situation had not been “averted a long time ago”.
The deputy head of the school governing body, Mntwekhaya Nkwenkwana, said he discovered that the toilets had “worms”.
“We were shocked by the number of parents coming to the school to complain about their children’s health, then we realised the problem is within the school,” he said.
“The toilets were last maintained in December before schools closed.”
He said the contract between the the mobile toilet provider and the department ended in December, and as a result the company took back eight of their 16 mobile toilets.
“They will come back and take the remaining eight. How will our children survive the whole day at school without proper sanitation?
“The department promised to build proper toilets in 2015 but in June 2016 they brought us mobile toilets, which are a health hazard.”
Ntombozuko Xilinxa said she took her daughter to the local clinic after she cried all night from raging itching. When she went to the school to report that her daughter would not be at school, she found out that many other pupils had been taken to the clinic.
“The nurse told me that my daughter was not the only one who had rashes from her school.
“Some of the classes are very close to the toilets and the bad smell makes it difficult for the children to concentrate,” Xilinxa said.
Babalwa Doyi said: “I didn’t know what caused my child to get sick until I came to the school and heard many children were not at school.
“When the teachers realised what was causing the infection, they immediately called a meeting with all the parents.”
Mtima said the department and the school had an agreement that mobile toilets would be delivered tomorrow.
“Every school has a maintenance budget. We are encouraging schools to use the maintenance budget. We don’t want a culture of people using the budget for their own benefit.”
He said the department was willingly to assist the school. —
zikhonam@dispatch.co.za