South Africa to eradicate pit latrine toilets in schools
South Africa is to get rid of all
pit latrines in state schools within two years after a five-year-old
pupil drowned in a toilet in March.
"This is an initiative that
will save lives and restore the dignity of tens of thousands of our
nation's children," President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Pit latrines are holes in the ground covered with a platform - and many are shoddily built.
More than 4,500 state schools in South Africa have pit latrines.
Lumka Mkhethwa's death in March in rural Eastern Cape province
came four years after another five-year-old, Michael Komape, had also
died after falling into a school toilet in the northern province of
Limpopo.
The case in March led President Ramaphosa to launch an audit of sanitation facilities in the country's 25,000 schools.
The
Sanitation Appropriate for Education (Safe) programme will be funded in
partnership with private groups including the Nelson Mandela Foundation
and the UN children's agency (Unicef).
"The Safe
initiative reaches beyond the bricks and mortar of water and sanitation.
It seeks to contribute to building a cohesive society in which schools
are the heartbeat of wholesome communities," Mr Ramaphosa said.
The
cost of the ambitious project is estimated at 6.8bn South African rand
($477m; £ 375m), says the BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg.
This
government estimate includes the demolition of existing structures as
well as the building of proper toilets, our correspondent says.
BBC
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