Ministry of Education has confirmed the temporary closure of Mlambe Primary School in Dedza District after one pupil died and several others were admitted to health facilities due to cholera outbreak.
Ministry of Education Public Relations Officer, Mphatso Nkuonera has confirmed the development saying the issue of cholera outbreak being a multi-sectoral issue, the recommendation was to swiftly and temporarily stop teaching and learning in order to protect other learners, teachers and the community from this deadly epidemic.
“The current status does not warrant closure of Schools across the country. The ministry will suspend teaching and learning in those schools with confirmed high figures.
“The school Feeding Programme’ will continue as usual, however, the ministry will again suspend providing the same to unique schools that have registered high cases of cholera as a way to contain this pandemic”, Nkuonera said.
The Spokesperson added that the ministry is collecting data to know and understand how many learners and teachers have been affected, for it to take appropriate remedial steps.
“We urge all stakeholders, parents, pupils and the surrounding communities to abide by our press releases; we totally discourage selling of already cooked food in schools and we hope this is a step that we can all take on in order to protect others and save lives, ” Nkuonera added.
Reported by Jennifer Tseka
