Blantyre, January 20: Authorities at the Henry Henderson Institute (HHI) Secondary School in Blantyre have closed down the institution due to intermittent supply of water, a problem that has hit the entire Commercial City for about three weeks.
Moses Kasitomu, the Education Secretary for Blantyre Synod confirmed the development in an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Monday.
Kasitomu said the school’s hygiene had been compromised, hence the decision to release the students to avoid outbreaks of water borne diseases like cholera.
“It is true that HHI School has temporarily been closed due to water crisis. We feel prevention is better than cure because there was possibility that an outbreak could come.
“We discussed with Blantyre Water Board (BWB) to give us water on daily basis but this was not enough as the water was only being used for cooking.
“But HHI school uses flash toilets which BWB could not afford to give more water that could also cater for cooking, flashing toilets and others like bathing and washing clothes,” said Kasitomu.
According to Kasitomu, all boarders were told to leave the school Saturday last week and day scholars who failed to get information on the closure were sent back Monday morning.
He said the school was still in talks with BWB on when normal water supply would resume and that students would be communicated once the situation normalises.
The school has 192 female boarders and 128 male boarders. It has a total of 620 students.
Earlier, the Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) threatened to demonstrate against BWB but cancelled the protests after engaging in what its boss John Kapito described as fruitful talks with the water supplier.
BWB Public Relations Officer Priscilla Mateyu told media recently that the crisis was a result of heavy rains which had disrupted production of water.
