A pupil of the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Kawo, Kaduna State, died at the weekend following the outbreak of cholera in the school.
About 40 others are hospitalised.
Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology Jafaru Sani confirmed this.
When our correspondent visited the school yesterday, officials of Red Cross Nigeria, who were at the school with other emergency organisations, said 42 other pupils were suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting due to the unhygienic environment.
As at last night, health workers had been deployed in the school to manage the situation.
The head teacher and officials of the Ministry of Health declined to comment.
The Deputy Director, Disease Control Centre, Ibrahim Suleiman, said 39 pupils have been taken to the hospital.
He said: “We have 39 pupils on admission for diarrhoea and vomitting. We are yet to confirm the real cause but there is a lot of contamination around the water source and this might be a serious contributory factor.
“Apart from these 39 pupils on admission, we are also investigating another 89 cases not related to diarrhoea and vomiting.”
The pupils are being treatment at the General Hospital in Kawo, Kaduna North.
