Sola Ojo, Kaduna
At least one student died while other 55 other students of Government Girls Secondary School, Kawo, in Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State were hospitalised at General Hospital, Kawo, over cholera outbreak the hit their school.
Confirming the development to newsmen during his assessment of the situation to the school, on Monday, Commissioner for Education in the state, Jafaru Sani said, the situation had been put under control.
According to him, 55 students of the school were admitted at the general hospital, 15 already discharged while 40 others were still on admission.
Said he, “The situation is under control. When we heard about the report, I called the commissioner for health and human service who immediately ordered the authority of Kaduna North local government to deploy health workers to the school immediately.
“The ministry of health has also made provision for a make shift control centre within the school in case of any other case for the diagnosis if the need arises”, he added.
Earlier, Officials of the Red Cross Nigeria, who were at the school in collaboration with other emergency organisations to put the situation under control, said 42 students affected were having diarrhea and vomiting as a result of unhygienic environment.
The officials of state’s Ministry of Health and Principal of the school, who were on ground, however, declined to comment on the issue.
But, Deputy Director, Disease Control Centre, Ibrahim Suleiman, told Daily Sun that he could only confirm 39 who have been evacuated from their hostels to the hospital.
According to Suleiman, “We have 39 cases on admission due to diarrhea and vomit. We are yet to confirm the real cause but there are a lot of contamination around the water source the students are using which may be a serious contributory factor.
“Apart from these 39 students on admission, we are also investigating another 89 cases apart from diarrhea and vomiting.”
A parent, simply identified as Ibrahim, confirmed to Daily Sun that the well, which is the only water source for the students, was litred with excreta because the overhead tank in the school was not working thereby making it difficult for the students to use the toilet facility in the school.
“My daughter was affected. The school hygiene was too poor. There is excreta around the well where these children are getting water from”, he added.
This is coming even as the state government was trying to revamp educational sector of the state with concentration on boarding schools across the state aiming at providing qualitative education for Kaduna children.