Rundu schools’ water crises force closure, affecting thousands of pupils

Classes at Ndama Junior Primary School at Rundu were suspended yesterday until further notice due to a water crisis.

This affects more than 1 300 pupils and 37 staff members at the school, and comes as four other Rundu schools have also not had water for weeks.

Ndama Junior Primary School, which has not had water for the past four weeks, has been the hardest hit, Kavango East education director Christine Shilima said yesterday.

This poses a potential health hazard for both pupils and staff, who have been forced to defecate in the open due to the toilets being clogged.

Furthermore, the septic tank has not been drained.

The Namibian reported earlier this week that more than 1 400 pupils, 50 teachers and 30 institutional workers at IK Tjimuhiva Combined School in the Omusati region have also been forced to go without water to drink, flush toilets and shower.

This is after the school’s only borehole broke about three weeks ago.

Now, the same situation is being faced by pupils at Rundu, where Shilima said classes were suspended after an assessment of the ablution facilities.

Pupils and teachers will be notified of classes resuming once a solution is found, she added.

“We will try our level best with the bureaucratic process to get a bidder to pump the septic tank within a convenient time to complete the process.”

A Grade 2 teacher at the school, Nzimbu Phillip, said the water crisis has affected pupils academically.

“Bear in mind, the school will be closing soon. The time we have from this day until end of November is very short. Some topics will not be covered due to this issue, so it is worrisome in terms of education for our pupils,” he said.

On 23 July, the Rundu Town Council compiled a report, seen by The Namibian, on their findings on the overflowing of sewage and blocked ablution facilities due to the water crisis at Kehemu Primary School.

The school has 3 196 pupils and 84 staff members.

The council raised concern over the transmission of waterborne diseases from the raw sewage.

The town council said all 21 toilets and seven urinals at the school are not functioning, including four toilets for teachers which are blocked.

“The non-functioning toilets forced pupils to practise open defecation on the school grounds. Fresh and dried faeces were observed on the ground. Raw sewage was found flowing into the open spaces of the school from Block A in both the girls’ and boys’ toilets.”

Namibia National Teachers Union secretary general Loide Shaanika yesterday said the challenges at the schools are not a new situation.

She described the ablution facilities as dirty and disturbing, and emphasised that the health of pupils and teachers should not be compromised.

“There’s no way we will still follow the same procedures to solve the same challenges since 2020,” Shaanika said.

“We are condemning the bureaucratic process system in the education ministry,” Shaanika added.