Over 3,000 South African Schools Still Use Pit Toilets, Denying Dignity.

More than 3,300 schools in poor, mostly rural areas across South Africa still use pit toilets, which are unhygienic and dangerous. In 2014, a 5-year-old boy drowned in a pit latrine at his school, and other children have suffered similar fates since. Human rights groups are pushing the South African government to replace all pit toilets with safe and decent sanitation facilities, but the government has failed to meet its promise to eradicate them by March 31, 2022. The deadline has now been shifted to 2025, which is seen as a denial of dignity to people in rural areas.