Equal Education applauds focus on early grade reading in the Basic Education 2019/20 budget vote, but is disturbed by Minister Motshekga’s shameless disregard of the school infrastructure law  

17 July 2019 

Yesterday, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga delivered her 2019/20 budget vote speech in Parliament. Equal Education (EE) applauds Motshekga for paying due consideration to the importance of improving early grade learning – but we are alarmed that she continues to feign ignorance of the Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure and has given herself another three years to eradicate plain pit latrines. 

Motshekga has already failed to comply with the legally binding three-year deadline. When she promulgated the Norms and Standards in 2013, she legislated the deadline (November 2016) by which plain pit latrines ought to have been eradicated. How many three-year extensions does Motshekga need to eradicate toilets that threaten the health and safety of learners? And if Motshekga keeps shifting the goal posts for the first Norms and Standards deadline, how long will it take her to abide by the legally binding 2030 deadline – by which date schools must have access to secure fencing, sufficient classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and sports fields?

While Motshekga waxes lyrical about preparing for the fourth industrial revolution through the roll-out of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), we are concerned about the tradeoffs in a context where basic education funding is not keeping up with inflation, and where there are other urgent and competing priorities.  

Issued by Leanne Jansen-Thomas, Head of Communications, Equal Education, 17 July 2019