June 28, (THEWILL) – The demise of Rita Emmanuel, a junior secondary student of the Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, has been blamed on negligence on the part of the school authority.
Angry parents who thronged the school compound on Tuesday, gave negative testimonies about unwholesome treatments and lack of standard facilities in the school belonging to the Federal Government.
THEWILL reports that Rita Emmanuel, a 10-year-old student of the school, died on Saturday, after being taken to the school’s Sick Bay, which lacks facilities and specialists to handle her case.
She was said to have been released to the parents in critical condition and was taken to a referral hospital, where medics could not save her because the situation was already bad, even as the school management described it as “complicated.”
Some parents who spoke to journalists, disclosed that “the medical facility in the school is completely obsolete and dysfunctional to take care of some serious cases involving the over 5,000 students in the school.”
“The children, as young as 10 years old are going through lots of pains from poor medication, because of no quality drugs, with only two nurses, poor feeding with cooks and teachers always in the habits of carting foods away, leaving the children malnourished and water crisis all the time in the school”, Mayen Ekanem, a parent noted.
“This is a clear case of avoidable death. The school is lacking in everything including discipline and security, because young children have traumatic experiences almost every day with the seniors brutalising them, stealing their things and raping some innocent girls”, Enobong Bassey, another parent lamented.
“My late brother-in-law’s son, Emediong Akpan, was admitted into SS1, and that same term, a senior student hit him on the chest and he started vomiting blood. When my husband tried to arrest the student, the school management promised to handle it. Since that day, Emediong’s life never remained the same until he graduated”, another parent recounted.
“My son was wounded by his bunk in the dormitory, all they could do at the clinic was to administer ‘Robb’, not minding the rust on the bunk”, Mfoniso Essien, said.
Explaining the circumstances surrounding the little Rita’s death, the Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association of the school, Dr Itoro Ikoh, appealed for calm, after meetings with the school management on the matter.
Her words: “Miss Rita was a JSS1 student. Am told she felt pains in her stomach at night. The following morning, while her house mistress was on routine check, she ordered that Rita be taken to the Sick Bay. She was attended to, but on cross examination, she was observed to be a complicated one which required referral.
“Umbilical hernia was diagnosed and the attention of Rita’s parents were required. When we spoke to the mother, she told us that she usually gave her vinegar to calm down, but was later taken to the hospital where she died.”
