Teachers key to cholera prevention in schools

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 13:00:39 +0000

By CHITE MTONGA

TEACHERS should play a leading role in sensitising pupils about proper hygiene to prevent cholera outbreak in schools as lessons resume next week, says the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT).

ZNUT deputy general Secretary David Banda said teachers in both private and public schools should sensitise pupils on appropriate hygiene practices to prevent outbreaks of cholera in schools.

He said teachers should on a daily basis counsel pupils on the disease.

Mr Banda said teachers were expected to act as role models and ensure that they adhered to practices that were hygienic as pupils would follow suit.

He said issues of cleanliness could not be overemphasised realising that most schools were currently operating in questionable sanitary conditions.

Mr Banda said pupil sensitisation on cholera should start at administrative level in schools and trickle down to individual teachers so that the information is second nature to pupils.

“Teachers should not tire to talk about cholera and how it is transmitted and preventive measures that pupils are supposed to take to avoid the spread of the disease, because these are children and for the information to stick, the school administrations as well as teachers need to repetitively counsel pupils on the disease,” he said.

Mr Banda said health inspectors going round the schools should be bold and ensure that schools that had poor sanitation were reported to the Ministry of Education for appropriate action. 

He said the Ministry of Health should consider administering the cholera vaccine to school pupils as they resumed lessons.

Mr Banda said the Union also expected concerted efforts from all stakeholders in children’s education to assist in preventing the outbreak of cholera in schools.

“We expect the community and all stakeholders to be involved in this fight, we do not want to see a situation where this disease penetrates our schools because that would be a disaster,” he said.