A police case has been opened against the owner of the syringes used to inject learners at Mooifontein Primary School in Kempton Park, Johannesburg.
The Gauteng Department of Education has confirmed that a Grade 4 learner brought syringes to the school on 15 September 2017, where she and two friends allegedly started injecting fellow learners.
According to the family of the learner, she used her sister’s bag and only realized when she was in class that there were needles in the bag. The sister is using the syringes for hormonal reasons.
“The school informed parents of approximately 28 pricked learners, and advised them to rush their children to medical practitioners for urgent necessary medical attention.
“As a precautionary measure, medication was administered to learners i.e. ARVs or Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). Unfortunately, some learners reacted negatively to medication by vomiting, while others experienced a runny stomach,” the department said.
The department also confirmed that the syringes were sent to the laboratory for tests, and a process to conduct counselling to all affected learners has commenced and will continue until the reintegration of learners to the school is concluded.
The School Governing Body (SGB) has also commenced with a disciplinary process against the perpetrators.
“This is indeed an unfortunate incident to occur in a schooling environment, we call upon parents to always be cautious on things that might be detrimental to children’s lives,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
