IN light of the spate of alleged poisoning cases in some of the schools in KwaZulu-Natal, the Department of Education has urged schools to vet vendors that sell to their learners.
This warning comes after a group of learners were rushed to hospital after suspected food poisoning in the South Coast of the province. Shortly, before this, another group of learners in Northern KZN were rushed to a local clinic after suspected food poisoning. In Gauteng, the death of six learners has been linked to a poisonous substance that was found in food consumed by the learners.
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The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal has reminded all school principals and school governing bodies (SGBs) to take full charge of meeting and vetting all vendors that sell to learners while at school and to engage with owners of the shops along the route that learners take to their school.
“This is mainly to engage with them regarding the importance of selling healthy snacks to learners and to ascertain whether they are buying from reputable retailers. It is our firm belief that the engagement of all vendors would assist in reducing such cases,” stated the department.
For this to be successful, the department offered the following guidance to school principals and governing bodies:
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- Register a manageable number of vendors and avail space for them to do business within the school premises.
- Vet all vendors to avoid letting individuals who may be on the sex offenders’ registers into the school and, by implication, causing them to be closer to learners.
- Discuss with the vendors about healthy snacks they may sell to learners and measures on how to ensure that they procure such from reputable wholesalers observing all relevant health prescripts.
- Discuss issues of cleanliness with regard to their places of operation to prevent food contamination. Local Municipality Health Offices may be engaged in this regard.
- Agree on time intervals for spot checks by the principal and/or his delegates and the SGB Members. These would be to check the general quality and expiry dates of snacks and other goods sold.
- Through the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign (QLTC), engage local shop owners on the importance of selling healthy stuff to learners en route to and from their schools.
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The department further emphasised that learners must be protected from anything that may compromise their lives. They must therefore be advised to avoid buying from unreliable/dodgy vendors en route to and from schools to protect themselves.
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