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GIVE US FOOD BEFORE DEWORMING – ARARAT HEAD

By NOMFANELO MAZIYA | 2023-03-22

Following the start of the de-worming exercise in schools on Monday, Ararat (Endlozini) Primary School was forced to spend funds it had not budgeted for in order to provide food for pupils.

The ministry of health is administering albendazole for intestinal worms and praziquantel for bilharzia, which was procured by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

While albendazole can be taken on an empty stomach, in mass treatment, it is not advisable as praziquantel should be taken on a full stomach.

Ararat (Endlozini) Primary Head teacher, Khanyisile Dlamini, during the deworming exercise at the school yesterday called on government to provide schools with food before embarking on the exercise.

She said the school faced challenges in ensuring that pupils took the medication on a full stomach as required due to a shortage of food.
Dlamini said the school asked parents to ensure that children came to school with a full stomach.

“We rely on parents feeding their children, therefore we do not know how much food or how balanced the food they receive at home is,” said Dlamini.

She said the deworming was especially important because the school had noticed that some children suffered from malnutrition and since there was no food, the schools could not control the pupils’ diet.

She said they were forced to rely on information from the children, which could be inaccurate.
“It would have been better if we had food we could offer them before the exercise so as to be sure,” said Dlamini.

Appreciate
“We appreciate the efforts by the ministry of health to deworm children as some pupils have shown signs of malnutrition and some skin problems such as ringworms, therefore we can see why the process is especially important,” she said.

Medication
Dlamini said the school had not received food from government, however, made a plan for the day as the medication needed to be complemented by food to minimise complications.
“We made a plan to ensure that there is food for our pupils after the exercise, otherwise we have not received any food from government,” said Dlamini.

She added that their cries to government pertaining the food issue in schools had fallen to deaf ears, however, the school understood and appreciated the initiative.

The head teacher said due to the fact that they understood the importance of the exercise the school out of their own not so deep pocket made means to ensure that the pupils were fed. She further pleaded with government that the next time such an exercise was carried out, it should ensure that schools had food for the pupils.

Dlamini said this was because as a school they rely on government to ensure that pupils got to eat at least once a day.

Overall she said the exercise was well received, as a majority of pupils had permission letters from their parents.

“We have 214 pupils whose parents have consented to the exercise and their children were dewormed. This is a very good number as there are 272 children in the school, excluding Grade Zero, which was not a part of the exercise,” said Dlamini.

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