Nabbing unwelcome visitors in schools
Spring has arrived and is said to be the season in which head lice occur more commonly amongst the youth.
Most schools are taking it upon themselves to monitor and eliminate lice activity on the school grounds, and how these procedures might affect their children in terms of their self-esteem and physical treatment might be a concern for parents.
The City Times has gained some insight from a few nursery and primary school principals on the matter, to inform parents of the motives and protocol.
“Schools do that to protect the children; it is standard procedure, the same as testing a child’s speech, hearing and eyesight,” said the principal of the Red Cross Nursery School, Elize Botes.
“In less than a day it can spread to four other children, which is why a child with lice must be sent home.”
She added that it is not a disgrace when a child has lice, especially as lice particularly like clean hair.
“We have to follow departmental health policies,” said Laerskool Brentwood Park principal Frans Lotz.
“It gets handled very confidentially and sensitively and children who do have lice have to be sent home with a standard letter containing advice and recipes to help get rid of them.”
Principal of the Bollie Creche Nursery School and Aftercare Centre Lida Homman said that lice especially break out at this time of the year.
“Wednesdays are lice checking days and each child is treated equally,” she added.
“Many parents have the idea that their children are being looked down on, which is not true at all,” said Johan Pieters, principal of Laerskool Northmead.
“We handle the matter very discretely, to avoid embarrassing the pupils,” said Rynfield Primary principal Lynette Cuthbertson.
“What my teachers normally do when they suspect a child has head lice, is to take him or her aside before checking them.”
She said that they usually send out newsletters to create awareness and provide advice on the subject.
“We have a whole departmental health policy that we must follow,” said Wally Janse van Rensburg, principal of Laerskool Rynfield
He explained that they have to react to head lice, to prevent them from spreading to other children and their parents getting angry at the school.
The schools request parents’ patience and co-operation in keeping these parasites at bay.
A few tips to help your child avoid getting lice include using hair products that repel lice, such as tea tree and coconut oils, encouraging your child not to share hair accessories and combs with friends and to have his or her head checked regularly.
