A celebratory event at Gampu primary school in Mpopoma, Bulawayo, Wednesday, ended on a sad note after learners who had consumed food supplied by the school suffered abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
The school was awarded the Secretary’s Bell Award for 2020 for being one of the learning Institutions that did remarkable work that year and held an event to celebrate the feat.
The school equips learners with various agricultural skills such as fish farming, fruit, maize and rabbit production.
As part of the event, the learners were served a meal of Isitshwala, meat and vegetables after the parents were made to pay US$1 for each child.
Later some learners developed heath challenges prompting their parents and guardians to confront the school authorities over the matter.
When a CITE news crew visited the school on Thursday some parents had gathered at the school premises waiting for the medical team promised by the school to assess their children.
Apparently, some parents had also consumed the food and had developed diarrhoeal symptoms.
“I have three children and they are all sick, they are in grade ECD -B, grade 1, and grade 7. They ate isitshwala and beef yesterday at school,” said one parent.
Another parent said her two children started having running stomachs around 2am.
“There was a function at the school and they ate the food, when we left, they were fine but around 2am they started complaining about their stomach. The other one is in grade three, the one in ECD-A messed up the blankets.”
She added that her grade three child was sent back from school on Thursday morning after suffering from an extreme case of diarrhoea.
The Deputy Headmaster however said the matter was resolved and referred further questions to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
Contacted for a comment, Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said he was still waiting for the report.
The article will be updated once we get Ndoro’s comment on the matter.
