Learners and teachers at Gobhela Primary School in Umzumbe Local Municipality paused the usual school morning for an unusual reason. Instead of celebrating academic achievement or sporting success, the full school community gathered to honour two people whose work happens quietly behind the scenes.

Cleaners Ngcebo Nyawuza and Ntokozo Khumalo were called to the front of the assembly and met with applause. They received certificates of appreciation, personalised messages and thank-you gifts in recognition of their vital role in keeping the school’s toilets, staff facilities and shared spaces hygienically clean, safe and ready for daily use.

The appreciation assembly was designed to acknowledge the people who are often among the least visible members of a school community, despite making one of its most important contributions.

The appreciation moment was enabled through ‘Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Futures’, Unilever South Africa’s Domestos-led school sanitation initiative, implemented in partnership with the Department of Basic Education.

The programme supports schools in creating cleaner, safer toilet environments by upskilling school cleaners and school management teams and providing practical learning materials, sanitation systems, personal protective equipment and maintenance tools.

Principal Lindani Mkhize, who participated in the ‘Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Futures’ training alongside the school’s cleaners, said the programme deepened the school team’s understanding of the skills, care and attention to detail required to maintain hygienically clean toilets.

“It is not simply a routine task; it directly affects whether learners feel safe and comfortable using the facilities. After seeing the commitment Ngcebo and Ntokozo bring to this work every day, we wanted our school community to recognise them properly,” said Mkhize.

“For Gobhela Primary’s learners, the morning was a reminder that the people who keep school toilets clean and hygienic are not peripheral to the school day; they are central to it.”

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