There are a variety of factors that could lead to your child being safe or unsafe in school. In the previous article, we discussed quality of water and the sanitary conditions of the school environment. Now, let’s talk about food and medical surveillance. Food source, its preparation and handling has a potential to lead to ill health if not carefully managed. In the home, what is the source of the meat used? Where do you buy your vegetables? In schools where feeding is part of the package, where is foodstuff obtained? What does the kitchen environment look like? What is the water source for cooking? How is hygiene maintained among the catering staff? Answering these sort of questions help you know what you are doing right and the loopholes in your system. It is important to have regular inspections to ensure nothing compromises your safety standards. Before a safety incident occurs, there must have been a chain of errors. These little errors when taken for granted eventually snowballs to a big incident. It is therefore better to nip an error in the bud before it gets out of control.

This is the reason medical surveillance is also necessary in schools. For starters, there should be a clinic or a functional First Aid unit depending on the size of the school. Emergencies are emergencies because they occur unexpectedly therefore preparedness is key. When children begin to have similar symptoms, that is the time investigations should begin to ascertain the root cause and squash it. Things like this should not be neglected on any account. Remember we are dealing with children with different immunity threshold. All schools should have a medical procedure and plan of what to do in a medical emergency. It is not enough to have it alone, compliance is key. Staff should be trained on basic First Aid skills to enable them act effectively in a medical emergency. Contact details of a hospital that the child can be referred to must be readily available too.

Now parents, do you think these things are  considered in the school your child attends? School owners, how do you think you can now improve school safety standards to ensure your students are protected?

Remember, if you see a mistake and refuse to do anything about it, it becomes your mistake.

Join us at the #SchoolSafetySummit, let’s chart the course of safety for the Nigerian child. Register here https://tinyurl.com/kjmche7  to join the movement.

To be continued next week…