Some 148 students from Ikonge PAG Girls Secondary School in Nyamira County have been hospitalized after developing severe stomach aches.
The students are said to have fallen ill after allegedly consuming contaminated water. Nyamira North Sub-county education director Claire Oyula and other Ministry of education officers are currently assessing the situation at Ekerengo Hospital, where a majority of the students were taken for specialized treatment.
Cases of water and food contamination in schools have recently been on the rise after the deadly Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School food poisoning incident that claimed the lives of three students and one teacher.
This was after a diarrhoea outbreak was reported in the school in a suspected case of food and water poisoning. The outbreak saw over 124 students hospitalized at the Kakamega County General Hospital.
On April 3, the school was shut down by public health officers in Kakamega after more than 500 developed similar complications.
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A case of water contamination was also reported last month in Munyeki Primary School in Nyandarua County. The head cook at the institution raised the alarm after discovering that the water was producing foam.
“I went to fetch water in a bucket and realized it was producing a lot of foam. This forced me to rush and inform the deputy headteacher because I thought that someone had added soap to the water. We later realized that it was something else and alarmed the school,” the cook narrated.
Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations who arrived at the scene confirmed that the water was poisoned, noting that the suspect may have orchestrated the crime at night.
The area chief education officer Pachomius Wambugu thanked the cook for her swift efforts that saved the lives of hundreds of children in the institution.
“I want to thank the school cook for caring for these children and identifying the problem early. We would be analyzing a different incident if it were not for her,” said Wambugu.
