Members of the education lobby group, Equal Education, held a picket protest in East London on Monday calling on the government not to appeal a recent ruling in the Bhisho High Court on norms and standards for school infrastructure.
The judgment on the 19th of July effectively said that it was unconstitutional to have provisions in the norms and standards that allow for the indefinite delay of the work of ensuring proper infrastructure at all schools.
The Education Department's application for leave to Appeal directly to the Constitutional Court was lodged two days before President Cyril Ramaphosa announced government's Sanitation Appropriate for Education Campaign in Pretoria.
Education Department spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, says they want the Constitutional Court to clarify the Minister's areas of responsibility in the matter.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Equal Education said that the held the picket protest outside Selborne College “to remind the government of its Constitutional duty to provide the infrastructure that is safe, that protects learners’ dignity, and that is conducive to quality teaching and learning, to all of South Africa’s learners”.
“Our demonstration was to again demand that government #StopTheAppeal,” the organisation said.
“EE members are deeply hurt and frustrated that the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and all nine Education MEC’s are appealing the Bhisho High Court judgment of 19 July 2018, which prevents the government from dodging its duty to #FixOurSchools within the deadlines stipulated by the Norms and Standards law.”
“The children of Ministers and MECs attend well-resourced schools that foster quality teach and learning. But, Eastern Cape learners, who are dependent on a public education system that MEC Mandla Makupula is responsible for, are exposed daily to school infrastructure that threatens their futures and their lives,” Equal Education said.
The lobby groups said that the Eastern Cape had the second highest number of plain pit latrines in schools in the country (1 722). “The need to address this crisis cannot be overstated, particularly when taking into account the danger they pose to learners and teachers”.
Two weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative, due to the need to urgently eradicate plain pit latrines across public schools in South Africa.
EE said after the death of Lumka Mkhethwa in March 2018, the President called on Minister Motshekga to conduct a comprehensive sanitation audit across all schools, as well as provide him with a costed plan.
“The audit and plans should have been compiled in previous years, after the promulgation of the Norms and Standards in November 2013. With the lodging of the appeal, the government not only argues that it is not obliged to urgently fix schools but demonstrates its unwillingness to publicly release school infrastructure improvement plans timeously,” EE said.
“We obtained the Eastern Cape report via a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application.
As a result, we cannot reconcile President Ramaphosa’s SAFE Initiative, with his government’s appeal of the Bhisho High Court judgment,” the organisation said.
Equal Education has appealed to the Eastern Cape Education MEC and the Premier Phumulo Masualle, to withdraw support for the appeal.
(Pic: Equal Education)
