Kings’ College Parents Lament School Management’s Response towards Infections Ravaging Students

•Call for investigation

Funmi Ogundare

Some concerned parents of Kings’ College, Lagos, have expressed dismay over the manner the management of the school is handling an alleged water borne infection which gave rise to fever, resulting in blisters on various parts of the skin of some students and subsequent admission of others into the hospital.

According to reports, some parents had alleged poor environmental sanitation and unavailable potable water in the college, especially the annex in Victoria Island.

They said the management should summon an emergency meeting of parents to proffer solutions to the challenge and also invite officials of the Federal Ministry of Health to mitigate the incident.

Speaking with THISDAY, the Head of Chamber at Prof. Paul Ananaba SAN &Co and a parent, Okechukwu Barrah, complained that when his son who is currently in J.S.S one, came home for the Sallah break, he complained of fever and stomach pain and was stooling.

He said parents had complained on the WhatsApp group that several students also had same complaints, as against the few mentioned by its management, adding that if the college clinic was functional, they would have noticed the trend.

“It is a situation that the school should have taken official notice of if they had been mindful of the children, it wouldn’t have escalated. This kind of issue also happened three years ago at Queen’s College where a student died because the water they were using wasn’t good and the case was covered up.

“If it happened to most of these children and they are using the common water, I am sure students of other classes fell victim through it. Are we not supposed to be talking about solution?”

Asked if the management called him to ask over the welfare of his son, Barrah said,”I wanted to write the principal officially, until I saw the one sided media report trying to cover up the issue. That is the problem with us in the country.

“When they granted a one-sided interview with media houses, it was obvious that they are trying to suppress the voice of the parents who are crying out.”

The Head of Chamber expressed concern that some of the college officials had threatened parents that they were free to withdraw their children if they were not satisfied with the services.

“This is a federal government-owned school, you can’t tell a parent that. They need to find solutions to the problem. Some of the students had complained about the quality of water at the college, that the colour is orange and it is not clean,” he stated, adding that the management should not wait until a student dies before calling a meeting.

He however expressed concern that the PTA Chairman had become a mouthpiece of the school rather than for the parents.

Barrah alleged that when PTA meetings are called, sometimes, only selected people who belong to their group are allowed to air their views which most times does not represent the opinions of the parents.

“You will be amazed that when parents raise their hands to say something, it is as if they have already pinpointed those that will talk, as long as you don’t belong to that group, they will not allow you to talk,” he alleged further.

Another parent who does not want his name in print, also expressed concern about the management’s attitude saying, “when I picked him last Friday for the Sallah break, I immediately took him to a clinic in our area for treatment and medication.”

In a swift reaction, the Director/ Principal of the college, Mr. Andrew Agada refuted the claim that its water was contaminated, saying only one source of drinking water served the entire college community.

“Four or five JSS 1 students have that problem and the parents attributed it to water. It’s the same water that JSS 2 and 3, and the entire school use. We have not received any report from JSS 2 and 3 nor staff and their children. We have good drinking water,” he explained.

Corroborating the principal, the  PTA Chairman, Mr. Sunday Ameh told THISDAY in a telephone conversation that, “we don’t have any water borne outbreak disease. About four or five parents had made a complaint and the executives visited those that allowed them in.”

Asked about some of the students that were admitted in the hospital, he said, “it will be too hasty to conclude that it is waterborne disease or fever.”

Asked if the management has any plans to hold a meeting with parents, Ameh said, “our meetings are always ongoing. We were supposed to have a general meeting three days before the sallah break on June 24, but with the midterm break, we had to step down the meeting.”