“The state of school infrastructure in South Africa continues to be a … threat to thousands of learners and teachers across the country,” says Roné McFarlane, Co-Head of Research at Equal Education, a non-profit organisation striving for quality and equality in the education sector.

School infrastructure is undoubtedly in a poor state. One example of this is the high number of schools still using pit toilets – close to 4,000 schools to be exact. This is according to the School Sanitation Audit conducted in 2018 by the Department of Basic Education. The audit was set in motion by President Cyril Ramaphosa after two primary school children drowned in pit latrines in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo between 2014 and 2018.

It is important to note that pit toilets are in contravention of the legally binding Norms and Standards for school infrastructure which were instituted in November 2013. According to the document: “Plain pit and bucket latrines are not allowed at schools.” With this in mind, it is important to consider whether the “big three” political parties have placed school infrastructure as a top priority in their manifestos.

What the ANC has to offer

A common thread within the ANC manifesto is vague promises. On the issue of sanitation, the party claims it will “continue to replace inappropriate school structures and sanitation facilities”. Added to this, there is the general agenda to “eradicate bucket systems and pit latrines in various parts of the country”. For Mark Heywood, the former executive director of SECTION27, the ANC’s promises are simply “not good enough”.

“We have lived with vague promises for the past five years,” he said.

SECTION27 describes itself as a public interest law centre that seeks to achieve substantive equality and social justice in South Africa. The organisation has conducted extensive research in the area of school sanitation, specifically in Limpopo. In 2018, they released a report on school sanitation in the province where they audited 86 schools and found that nearly half had pit toilets.

The ANC appears to place more emphasis on digitising the classroom by “(scaling-up) skills development for the youth in data analytics, the internet-of-things, blockchain and machine learning, to enable (the) training of young people to develop and operate new technologies”. With talk of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, this seems like a progressive agenda, but let’s put it into perspective.

In this year’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined the government’s plans to provide every learner with a tablet within the next six years. This isn’t necessarily an ANC party agenda, but a “state” agenda. According to MacFarlane, this was a “cheap electioneering stunt”, especially considering the substantially high number of schools still using pit latrines.

“Research does not support that supplying learners with tablets is an efficient or effective way to spend desperately-needed state funds,” she said.

According to Heywood, the ANC is not fully aware of the basic needs of schools.

“Learners shouldn’t be denied a good learning environment but a good learning environment doesn’t necessarily come from tablets,” he said.

The EFF

In an article published in Daily Maverick in February this year, the EFF manifesto was described as a “fundamentally dishonest document”.

“Opposition parties have the luxury of making promises to the electorate which will probably never have to be acted on,” it read.

With regards to school infrastructure, the EFF manifesto, also referred to as the Plan of Action, states that the party will:

• Provide security in all schools;
• Ensure that there are safe flushing toilets in all schools by 2021;
• Electrify all schools everywhere by 2021;
• Build two grass fields, two pitches and a swimming pool at every school by 2023.

Similar to the ANC, the EFF also has an agenda to provide learners with tablets.

“Each learner will get a tablet loaded with all necessary study material, tutorials and educational videos,” the manifesto reads.

With the extent of the country’s school infrastructure challenges, the party has set itself some unrealistically “tight” deadlines.

For Heywood, SECTION27 “welcomes any party that’s serious about school infrastructure”. However, he wonders whether the EFF indeed has a “Plan of Action” to fulfil its agenda.

“Is there a road map to realise those promises?” he asked.

For MacFarlane, Equal Education has learnt one thing over their years of campaigning: “Promises are easier made than kept.”

The DA

The DA claims it has “built, on average, 14 schools and 265 new classrooms for every year in office since 2009. This amounts to 131 schools and close to 2,400 classrooms over two terms. Between 2004 and 2009, just 42 schools were built – a 36% slower rate of infrastructure rollout.”

But MacFarlane points out that “while the Western Cape government is performing better than other provinces when it comes to school infrastructure, serious other issues persist”.

“This includes school safety. Learners continue to face life-threatening situations in Western Cape schools,” she said.

“Another important problem is the government’s failure to take care of public farm schools located on private land. These schools are not factored into school infrastructure plans for the province. Learners have to walk punishing distances to school and teaching conditions in many of them remain abysmal,” she continued.

Buried deep within the DA’s 83-page manifesto booklet, the party has promised to partner with the private sector to roll out “Collaboration Schools”.

In an Indepedent online article published in 2017, Equal Education outlined the collaboration schools model.

“At these schools, so-called ‘school operating partners’ (SOPs) are entitled to majority representation on school governing bodies (SGBs).”

This opens the door to high levels of “non-state” involvement in the education sector, a reality which Equal Education is concerned about.

MacFarlane told Daily Maverick that the model has significant “flaws and gaps”.

“The relationship between the various stakeholders remains amorphous. The manner in which ‘partners’ are selected and introduced into public schools is arguably undemocratic,” she said.

“The guiding criteria and systems of support (as well as) the monitoring and accountability accompanying the involvement of external partners is vague and little is said about the flow of funds,” she continued.

The DA has already piloted 10 collaboration schools in the Western Cape, but Equal Education feels that the “project in its current form should not be implemented in other provinces”.

Like the ANC and EFF, the party also plans to digitise the classroom by promoting e-learning.

(The DA will) roll out online and digital learning platforms to under-resourced schools… so that children and youth are prepared for work in a modern economy.”

The DA manifesto appears impressive read at first glance, but MacFarlane provides a much-needed reality check.

“When evaluating the performance of a wealthy urban province like the Western Cape, it is important to consider that its challenges are not comparable to poorer rural provinces that inherited much greater backlogs after South Africa’s transition and face tremendous challenges related to poverty and rurality.” DM