Christof Maletsky
14 May 2008
Windhoek — GOVERNMENT has temporarily closed the Okanguati Combined School near Opuwo for an indefinite period after two teachers and a pupil contracted cholera.
"The school and hostel are a sorry state of affairs.
The sewerage was running in the boys' hostel.
The Ministry of Health really had a reason for taking the drastic decision," /Awebahe //Hoeseb, Deputy Director of Education in the Kunene Region, told The Namibian yesterday.
Last week the Ministry of Health instructed their education counterparts not to reopen the school until the poor sanitation had been improved.
//Hoeseb said the school had been closed and the Grade 10 pupils transferred to Mureti Secondary School and Putwavanga Junior Secondary School in Opuwo - 120 km southeast of Okanguati.
He and officials from the Ministry of Works and the Kunene Regional Council visited the school on Monday to inspect the conditions.
The contractor was on site to repair the toilet facilities.
However, //Hoeseb said, the Ministry of Education had not considered the fact that the problem was bigger than just the school premises.
He said the settlement's main pipeline, which runs past the school, was also blocked - meaning that even though the school's pipeline was fixed, sanitation problems would continue until the main pipeline was repaired.
"We have moved the Grade 10s because of the October exams but others have to wait unfortunately.
We are also talking to the principals of the two schools and the catering company to move the food for the learners to Opuwo," he said.
Once the facilities were repaired, he said, the Ministry of Health would do an inspection before the school reopened.
The Namibian has it on good authority that two teachers and a pupil at the school have contracted cholera, while 15 people have died of the disease in the Kunene Region.
So far around 2 047 suspected cases have been reported in the region, with 10 confirmed as cholera.
Meanwhile, the number of new malaria cases in the North is dropping, while cholera remains on the increase.
According to the co-ordinator of Government's flood emergency response, Erastus Negonga, 7 166 malaria cases had been reported since May 8 compared to 9 088 at the end of April.
The Ohangwena and Oshana regions have reported 1 415 cholera cases and 19 deaths.
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