Africa-Press – Malawi. BROKEN STATE— The old toilet facilities at Chatuwa Primary School in Lilongwe CityBy Khumbo Kaliwo:
Amid rising cases of cholera, Chatuwa Primary School in Lilongwe City with about 4, 000 pupils is running without a single toilet. The school is located right within the capital city in Lilongwe City Centre constituency.
At the school, pupils urinate behind walls, in the nearby maize fields or in latrines in the neighbouring homes. And it has run without toilets for the past six months now.
Ministry of Education spokesperson, Mphatso Nkuonera, said the ministry is aware of the issue and that construction of two toilets has started. “As we speak, we are constructing two twin toilets and we hope they will ease the burden,” Nkuonera said.
Member of Parliament for Lilongwe City Centre, Alfred Jiya, visited the school on Friday and expressed shock at the development. “It’s a pathetic environment and the learners are relieving themselves on the walls of the old toilets and there is no running water.
This is very pathetic. ” Jiya said. Times learnt that the school has about 4,000 learners. Education expert Steve Sharra said the situation at Chatuwa school is a reflection of what is happening in many other schools.
He said this is an old problem which raises several questions about school leadership, community leadership and government support for public education.
“It is quite shocking and ”unfortunately it is not an isolated case as there are many schools that have got such conditions, and these problems have been there for a while,” he said.
Sharra called for an urgent inspection of the school by the public health system and to decide whether to close the school because the lives of the children are in danger.
“They really need to go and make an assessment, make an urgent decision because it’s a worrisome situation with the re-emergence of cholera,” Sharra said. Last year, Times also exposed how thousands of learners at Kawale Primary School were queueing for the only two working latrines at the school.
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