Court tells government to fix loopholes in school infrastructure plans
The High Court in Bhisho in the Eastern Cape has ordered Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to fix flaws in her department’s rules for school infrastructure, after lobby group Equal Education successfully argued the loopholes enabled the government to shirk its duty to provide safe schools. The ruling places Motshekga under fresh pressure to speed up school improvement. While there has been progress in recent years, many classrooms are still made of inappropriate materials such as asbestos and mud, and a significant number of schools still lack safe sanitation, water and electricity. The minister is also under political pressure, after the death of five-year-old Lumka Mkhethwa in a school toilet in March. President Cyril Ramaphosa directed her to come up with a plan by mid-June to eliminate school pit latrines. School infrastructure The court judgment is the culmination of a sustained campaign by Equal Education to improve school infrastructure. In November 2013 the minister r...
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