Dozens of panicked parents have prevented their children from attending classes at Schornville Primary School in King William’s Town pending an investigation into an outbreak of diarrhoea.
Hundreds of pupils from Grade R to Grade 7 were rushed to two provincial hospitals on Monday after suspected food poisoning.
The pupils fell sick and started vomiting and complained of severe stomach cramps shortly after eating their government funded lunch.
The Eastern Cape department of education believes the pupils fell sick after eating crumbly porridge (umphokoqo) with expired sour milk.
Authorities have confirmed that some pupils did not eat the food but still fell sick, fuelling speculation the problem may lie with the school’s water.
In the wake of the health scare, the government feeding scheme has come under scrutiny, with some parents banning their children from eating the food. Angry parents have also started demanding answers from the school.
The Eastern Cape health department has launched an investigation into the matter and the Dispatch understands that a meeting with parents will be held this week after test results are disclosed.
The water and food given to children was tested by experts from the department of health and workers from the BCM water department on Monday.
Miranda Ngake, 29, said her six-year-old son would never eat anything from the school again.
“He also said himself that he learnt a hard lesson. From now he would only eat and drink what I prepare for him at home.”
The school has population of 1200 registered pupils.
In a statement to the Dispatch on Monday health provincial spokesman Siyanda Manana said Luzuko preschool in Ginsberg was also hit by a diarrhoea outbreak.
“In both schools they ate amasi (sour milk), but some are saying they did not eat but fell sick anyway. Their symptoms are stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting.”
Manana said the health experts could not get the samples of the amasi but did get the samples of the dish served with it.
He promised to share the test results with the Dispatch once they were ready.
Schornville school governing body chairman Mzwandile Vaaiboom had not responded to questions at the time of writing.
Parents keep kids at home after bout of ‘food poison’
Hundreds of pupils from Grade R to Grade 7 were rushed to two provincial hospitals on Monday after suspected food poisoning.
The pupils fell sick and started vomiting and complained of severe stomach cramps shortly after eating their government funded lunch.
The Eastern Cape department of education believes the pupils fell sick after eating crumbly porridge (umphokoqo) with expired sour milk.
Authorities have confirmed that some pupils did not eat the food but still fell sick, fuelling speculation the problem may lie with the school’s water.
In the wake of the health scare, the government feeding scheme has come under scrutiny, with some parents banning their children from eating the food. Angry parents have also started demanding answers from the school.
The Eastern Cape health department has launched an investigation into the matter and the Dispatch understands that a meeting with parents will be held this week after test results are disclosed.
The water and food given to children was tested by experts from the department of health and workers from the BCM water department on Monday.
Miranda Ngake, 29, said her six-year-old son would never eat anything from the school again.
“He also said himself that he learnt a hard lesson. From now he would only eat and drink what I prepare for him at home.”
The school has population of 1200 registered pupils.
In a statement to the Dispatch on Monday health provincial spokesman Siyanda Manana said Luzuko preschool in Ginsberg was also hit by a diarrhoea outbreak.
“In both schools they ate amasi (sour milk), but some are saying they did not eat but fell sick anyway. Their symptoms are stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting.”
Manana said the health experts could not get the samples of the amasi but did get the samples of the dish served with it.
He promised to share the test results with the Dispatch once they were ready.
Schornville school governing body chairman Mzwandile Vaaiboom had not responded to questions at the time of writing.
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