Parents and community members have raised alarm over blocked toilets and overflowing sewerage at Ernst Jager Combined School in the ||Kharas region, saying pupils have been exposed to health risks since May.
They say there were promised that the school’s ablution facilities would be functional before the start of the second semester.
However, they say the situation remains unchanged.
When contacted for comment yesterday, acting school principal Myrtle Vries referred The Namibian to the inspector and director of education in the region.
!Garib Circuit inspector Selma Nakanyala yesterday said she could not comment because she was on sick leave.
Deputy executive director for schools and formal education Edda Bohn yesterday confirmed that the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture is aware of the matter and is addressing it through its regional directorate.
She said the ministry is awaiting further updates from the regional office.
School board chairperson Jacobus Basson says parents and board members have repeatedly raised the issue with the school, but claim no action has been taken.
“I complained to the principal, inspector and education director but nothing was done. It’s now two months,” he says.
Basson says a meeting planned in May between the school board and school management did not take place because most members were absent.
“I sent emails but no response. The school is smelly and it’s unhealthy … it’s unfit to operate,” he says.
He says pupils have the right to clean water and toilets.
School board member Witbooi Ferdinand says the ongoing sanitation crisis has created tension between the school board and the principal.
He warns that pupils are being exposed to health risks, including hepatitis and other bacterial infections.
“This is the second month we are struggling with the situation.
We’re moving towards the third month now,” he says.
A resident living near the school says dirty sewage water flows from the school into his yard.
He says he sees pupils walking through the contaminated water every day, raising concerns about their health and safety.
