News / National
Raw sewage flood school premises
25 Feb 2015 at 07:02hrs | Views
Glen View 4 Primary School SDA vice chairperson Ms Patience Gonese (left) and Ottilia Chivese, a committee member, walk past raw sewage at the school. - (Picture by William Mafunga)
Glen view 4 Primary School has been forced to close after raw sewage flooded the premises, exposing pupils and teachers to diseases.
The school was closed two weeks ago.
School Development Association chairperson Mr Norman Mazongonda told The Herald on Monday that the school was closed by a local environmental officer.
The headmaster could not comment citing protocol issues.
"We are not happy about the school closure. The sewage problem has not been fixed up to now and this is affecting our children. Our children have gone for two weeks without learning and how are they going to recover lost time?" he asked.
When The Herald visited the school, raw sewage could be seen flowing from a blocked manhole inside the school yard.
The whole school yard was flooded with contaminated water.
"There is sewage all over the school. The administration block, classroom blocks and the school ground are now all flooded with sewage," said Mr Mazongonda.
"Council workers have been here for days but have failed to fix the problem.
"We are appealing to the mayor and the corporate sector to assist us to fix the sewage problem which requires urgent maintenance work to be undertaken to eradicate problems with sewage overspill on site. We want our children to learn under a clean and safe environment."
A local environmental health officer carried out an inspection last week and conditions were found to be unsatisfactory for public health.
"Sewage was bursting out on one of the manholes flowing all over classroom entrances and the playgrounds.
"Through my observation, I found out that the surroundings were not conducive for school activities," read part of the letter written on February 17, 2015.
"I hereby recommend that the school activities be suspended until the anomaly has been rectified."
When contacted for comment, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora said he was not aware of the problem and referred all questions to the district education officer.
Parents with children at the school are bitter about the delays in rectifying the sewer problem.
"Our children are doing nothing and this will affect the performance of our Grade 7 classes," said Mr Anderson Setumeni.
"The council must fix this problem as a matter of urgency so that our children can return to class and catch up with the rest of the children going to school in the country."
Schools close on April 1 and parents fear that the problem will affect preparations for first term examinations.
The school was closed two weeks ago.
School Development Association chairperson Mr Norman Mazongonda told The Herald on Monday that the school was closed by a local environmental officer.
The headmaster could not comment citing protocol issues.
"We are not happy about the school closure. The sewage problem has not been fixed up to now and this is affecting our children. Our children have gone for two weeks without learning and how are they going to recover lost time?" he asked.
When The Herald visited the school, raw sewage could be seen flowing from a blocked manhole inside the school yard.
The whole school yard was flooded with contaminated water.
"There is sewage all over the school. The administration block, classroom blocks and the school ground are now all flooded with sewage," said Mr Mazongonda.
"Council workers have been here for days but have failed to fix the problem.
"We are appealing to the mayor and the corporate sector to assist us to fix the sewage problem which requires urgent maintenance work to be undertaken to eradicate problems with sewage overspill on site. We want our children to learn under a clean and safe environment."
A local environmental health officer carried out an inspection last week and conditions were found to be unsatisfactory for public health.
"Sewage was bursting out on one of the manholes flowing all over classroom entrances and the playgrounds.
"Through my observation, I found out that the surroundings were not conducive for school activities," read part of the letter written on February 17, 2015.
"I hereby recommend that the school activities be suspended until the anomaly has been rectified."
When contacted for comment, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora said he was not aware of the problem and referred all questions to the district education officer.
Parents with children at the school are bitter about the delays in rectifying the sewer problem.
"Our children are doing nothing and this will affect the performance of our Grade 7 classes," said Mr Anderson Setumeni.
"The council must fix this problem as a matter of urgency so that our children can return to class and catch up with the rest of the children going to school in the country."
Schools close on April 1 and parents fear that the problem will affect preparations for first term examinations.
Source - the herald
