DepEd probes Zamboanga school incident

THE Department of Education (DepEd) in Zamboanga del Norte is addressing an incident at a public school in Sindangan after 57 of its students experienced a health emergency on Wednesday and Thursday.

In a statement that was shared on the school’s Supreme Sailors Council Facebook page on Friday, the students of the Sindangan National High School started experiencing shortness of breath and fainting due to a power interruption in the campus.

“Initially, the students began to experience a shortness of breath and fainting around 1:00 in the afternoon following a power interruption on Nov. 16, 2022, to which 20 students were affected,” the DepEd statement wrote.

“In the morning of Nov. 17, 2022, 37 more students suffered the same condition. These continuing incidents prompted the barangay, local government unit (LGU) and school officials to pacify the situation and for the parents to fetch their children.”

The teachers in the school remained in the premises until 5 p.m.

Photos and videos of students being brought to ambulances were shared by the Sindangan emergency medical services and municipal fire station.

According to the DepEd, the students were brought to the Sindangan District Hospital where their vital signs were stable. The physicians who attended to the students said it was due to mass hysteria.

All students have since been discharged.

The school also conducted a parent and teacher meeting, as well as the chief of police, in a post on its Facebook page.

The DepEd said an investigation is being conducted on the incident.

“We would like to assure the public that the Schools Division of Zamboanga del Norte, the school, the LGU and the proper authorities are currently looking into the cause of this rare incident, and efforts are made to ensure the well-being of learners,” the DepEd wrote.

The Education department said plans are now in place to conduct Psychological First Aid to the students by the school’s guidance counselors.