behind schedule due to the Ebola Virus Disease,
EVD, it seems that the instituted regulations and
hygiene policies have been abandoned by staff,
students and management of some public and
private schools.
Recall that the EVD was brought into Nigeria in
August with the arrival of the late American-
Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, and it killed over eight
people. This resulted in the shift in the
resumption of schools by the Minister of
Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who
charged all state Ministries of Education to
immediately organise and ensure that, at least,
two staff in all public and private schools are
trained on how to handle any suspected case of
Ebola and also embark on immediate
sensitization of all teaching and non-teaching
staff in all schools on preventive measures.
Also, as a result of pressure from the state
chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT,
the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola
further postponed the resumption date to October
13 to enable it adequately distribute EVD
preventive kits to all public schools in the state.
But despite these, most schools have relaxed on
enforcing or have completely jettisoned the
preventive measures as directed by the Minister
of Health so as to prevent further contact and
spread of the virus, giving rise to the question:
should hand washing be just to prevent further
contracting and spread of EVD or should it be
part of our daily hygiene?
A visit to some schools in Lagos revealed that
while there were still different degrees of
compliance by different schools, some have
totally abandoned these preventive measures.
For Amarachi Francis, a student of Promiseland
College, Weighbridge, Ikorodu Road, “we don’t
wash our hands any more neither do we have our
temperatures checked in my school because
Nigeria is free of Ebola so there is no need for us
to continue to practice such, especially as they
are time-consuming.”
Likewise, a student of Jestoban College, Ketu,
Adeola Dairo, students are at will to decide
whether to comply or not as there are no strict
enforcement of these preventive measures.
She said: “Initially, we used to have our
temperatures checked, wash our hands and use
the sanitizers before entering the school and even
before we enter the school bus. But now, nobody
enforces that anymore, so we decided to skip
those checks and would not be penalised.”
Giving reasons why they have relaxed on
enforceing the measures, the Head Nurse, Rybeka
Model College, Olodi-Apapa, Joy Ogechi, said:
“We have been checking their temperatures but it
is really time-consuming, especially as they are
having their continuous assessment tests, we
hardly check them now. The bucket and soap are
still there and the children use them.
“Though the country has been declared Ebola free
for over a month, we have continued the hand-
washing and temperature checking, at least, till
the end of the year. This will give us more time to
instil the hand- washing habit in the students so
they will grow with it.”
Though a student from DeLight International
School, Olodi Apapa, said her temperature has not
been checked for a while though she still washes
her hands, the Principal, Mrs. Rita Ofoegbu,
however, said the reason why they didn’t check
their temperatures was because it was on a
Friday, which is a half day for schools.
“But we have been checking their temperatures
because we have had reasons to send back
children who are not feeling well as some parents
are in the habit of dumping their sick children on
us. The digital thermometer has made it easier
and saves us a lot of trouble because even if it is
not Ebola, we send any sick child back”, Ofoegbu
said.
Pointing out that his students have already
imbibed hand-washing habit, the Head Teacher,
Umbrella Schools, Lagos, Mr. Ben Teah, said: “We
still check their temperatures, and will continue
doing so till the end of the session as directed by
the proprietress. The children are already used to
hand-washing so we can’t take that away. They
wash their hands when they come in the morning
or after using the convenience. If the water is
finished they go to the person in charge to fill it
up for them. It has become a habit, which is not
a bad one to imbibe.”
Public schools are not left out as a visit around
town showed that a good number of them are
guilty of failing to comply with the preventive
directives.
Defending their failure to completely comply
despite insisting that teachers would not resume
till the necessary EVD preventive kits have been
supplied to all public schools in the state, the
Chairperson, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT,
Lagos State Chapter, Comrade Segun Raheem,
said most schools don’t have access to water to
for their students to wash their hands. According
to Raheem, “it is true we insisted that these
preventive measures be provided and at the right
quantity, and have held several meetings since
resumption to ensure full implementation by all
because we insist that these hygienic steps be
part of our lives and not just to prevent EVD.
“For schools that have abandoned these
measures, especially hand-washing, it is as a
result of lack of access to water due to no public
power supply to power their generators (if they
have any) or have run out of funds to buy water.
But despite these, I’m assuring you that the
implementation committee would look into this.”
Despite the various reasons given by these
schools, a community health specialist, Dr.
Ifeoluwa Sulaimon, insists that regular and proper
hand-washing habit go a long way in preventing
us from being sick and from spreading germs to
others around us.
“For example, you sneeze or cough into your
hands or even touch fecal matter after using the
toilet/handling a pet and use same hands to
scratch your eyes, pick your nose, bite your nails
and touch others by shaking/hugging them or
using same hands to handle food materials which
become contaminated and consumed by you and
other persons. The chain of events could be
unending.
Introduction of bacteria
“Our hands are the most exposed parts of our
bodies to germs and the aforementioned body
parts are lined by very thin mucous membranes
through which germs could easily gain entry into
the body system thereby leading to the
introduction of bacteria into the body and then
the individual becomes sick!
“This concept is the reason why emphasis was
placed on regular hand washing in order to
ameliorate the scourge of the dreaded EVD as the
chain of events resulting from germ transmission
from person to person can only be interrupted by
regular washing of hands.
“This would reduce the load of germs transmitted
thereby reducing the chances of you and others
falling sick. Therefore, take responsibility by
washing your hands regularly after coming in
contact with diverse surfaces.”
SOURCE: Vanguard
Like This Article? Please Like Us On FACEBOOK
No comments:
Post a Comment