Kunene school without water for five weeks
A Five-week water shortage at Orumana Combined School in the Kunene region has triggered a sanitation crisis, disrupting classes and sparking pupil protests.
The school has been relying on a community borehole after its own borehole stopped pumping water, but has allegedly been denied access to the borehole.
A source at the school says the matter has been reported to both the circuit inspector and the Kunene regional director of education, but no lasting solution has been implemented.
School principal Matti Kaamukulwa this week confirmed that the school is experiencing serious water supply challenges, although he said the interruption had not persisted continuously since the beginning of the term.
He said the matter had been reported to the Ministry of Works and Transport, of which the officials recommended replacing the borehole’s water-pumping cylinder.
“It was bought and installed, but nothing has changed,” Kaamukulwa said.
He said the school had temporarily sourced water from a nearby community borehole, but the arrangement ended after the community requested payment for the water.
“They stopped supplying us with water.
The situation became worse when pupils started demonstrating during the morning briefing,” he said.
Kaamukulwa said a water tanker had been expected to deliver water to the school, but the vehicle was unable to do so because it was not roadworthy and required repairs to one of its wheels.
Kunene regional director of education Sophia Fredrick yesterday said she was attending a meeting when contacted for comment and was unable to respond immediately.
Established in 1959, Orumana Combined School accommodates 1 041 hostel pupils from grades 1 to 11 and employs 38 staff members.
A source says pupils have resorted to relieving themselves in the schoolyard, especially at night, because there are no usable sanitation facilities.
“The last letter we wrote was on Friday, proposing that authorities either drill a new borehole because the existing one is no longer pumping water, or transport water from NamWater dams using tanker trucks.
The immediate solution is to supply water by truck,” the source says.
The source says the water shortage has affected school attendance, particularly among hostel pupils.
“Some parents decided not to send their children back after the weekend, because there is no water.
Only about 10% of the hostel pupils returned. In some classrooms that normally have 45 pupils, only four have come back,” the source says.
According to the source, the lack of water has worsened already poor sanitation conditions.
“The school has no functional toilet. Pupils relieve themselves in nearby bushes during the day, while many are forced to use blocked toilets at night. The hostel has become very dirty, and the situation is unbearable,” the source says.
Frustrated by the conditions, some pupils staged a demonstration yesterday, chanting: “No water, no education.”
Opuwo Urban constituency councillor Ngunaihe Ueutjerevi did not answer calls to his cellphone yesterday.
