RUNDU – Divundu Combined School has since February 14 suspended classes due to the health hazard posed by sewerage water flowing into the hostel.
The sewerage pipes are old and broken, while the toilets are dysfunctional and health inspectors have declared the hostel unfit for human habitation.
On February, 14, learners were sent home as there were fears they could contract water-borne infections from the deluge of raw sewerage that flowed into the hostel block and from the filthy toilets that have not been flushing for several months.
“Filthy water flows into the children’s rooms. It’s hazardous to the well-being of these kids as mosquitoes and bacteria breed in the dirty water,” lamented a teacher stationed at the rural school.
Health inspectors from the Ministry of Health and Social Services have visited the school on various occasions and they advised the management to close the hostel. “
The toilets don’t flush, taps don’t close and when the sewage pipes are full they start to flow into the hostel,” said a teacher who requested anonimity.
“The hostel needs to be renovated and the pipes rebuilt. We suspect the old sewage pipes are broken and they are blocked,” said Dinyando Leonard Musutu the schoolboard chairperson. He said the school reported the damage to the department of works but so far nothing has been done to remedy the situation at the rural school.
“The hostel dining hall is also dilapidated as all the windows are broken and when the wind blows the children’s food is covered in dust and by the time they come to eat everything is dusty,” said a cook.
The principal said he was not allowed to speak to the media and the circuit inspector referred New Era to Alphons Dikuua, the director of education for Kavango West and East who was also unavalable.
Teachers told New Era on Friday they were going to call the learners back to school as they had agreed in the recent parents’s meeting that by today (Monday) they would use some of the classrooms as bedrooms for learners.
By John Muyamba