KITGUM: At least twenty pupils at Alune Primary School, suffering from the nodding syndrome, have failed to resume studies.
The school, with an enrollment of 449 learners, is located in Labongo Akwang Sub County.
Of these, 30 are suffering from nodding syndrome as of the 2020 enrollment before the closure of all learning institutions due to the coronavirus disease.
Before the closure, it had an enrolment of 30 pupils suffering from nodding syndrome. These are part of the total of 449 learners.
However, since the school reopened last month, fewer than half of the students with the condition have returned to class.
Some of the students have reportedly been impregnated, while others’ conditions have deteriorated due to a variety of factors such as a lack of food in the school and teachers to care for them.
John Okura, the Alune Primary School headteacher, said on Friday that the number of learners with nodding syndrome had been varying between ten and six since the reopening, prompting concerns from the school management.
He disclosed that absenteeism has been greatly linked to a lack of trained personnel to handle the children, pregnancy, and hunger.
Okura explained that on Wednesday this week, the school management and Parents Teachers Association (PTA) members resolved in a meeting that all parents of children with the condition provide one litre of cooking, half a kilogramme of onions, one bar of soap, one packet of salt, 10 kilogrammes of beans, 15 kilogrammes of shillings 6,000 termly to provide food for the learners with the condition while at school.
52-year-old Alice Akello from Tumangu Bongo Lakuu Village said that she has failed to send one of her two children suffering from nodding syndrome back to school since his condition has deteriorated.
Akello’s son, 20 years old, was in Primary Six at Alune Primary School with his brother, who was in Primary Four.
Bosco Oringa says that the decision is welcome since it will help keep the children in school because their major problems are hunger, especially during the afternoon hours when they experience convulsions.
Earlier, Patrick Omal, the school headteacher, appealed to the district health and education departments to train their teachers on managing learners with nodding syndrome since the trained ones were all transferred.
He noted that keeping children with nodding syndrome in schools will keep them away from abusers.