Mr Benjamin Lartey, a Sanitation Consultant, has asked stakeholders to demand from the new Water and Sanitation Ministry a place in its budget for Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) to improve such facilities in schools.

 

He said the issue of sanitation and hygiene in schools was a serious challenge that needed to be treated with the utmost urgency to ensure the safety of children.

 

Mr Lartey was speaking at the 60th edition of the National Level Learning Alliance Programme (NLLAP) in Accra on the theme: “Understanding the Socio-Cultural, Economic, Political Factors, Challenges and Opportunities in Menstrual Hygiene Management and the Status of WASH in Schools in Ghana”.

 

He said in a survey conducted in six schools in the Greater Accra Region, about 33 per cent of the schools did not have access to toilet facilities.

 

He said even though 67 per cent out of the six schools had toilet facilities, they were inadequate and that 17 per cent of the pupils did not have access to the facilities due to the deplorable and unhygienic condition.

 

This, coupled with improper waste management and water situations, had worsened the plight of students, thereby, leading to an increase in indiscriminate open defecation and urination on various school compounds. Mr Lartey said the indecent exposure of female pupils when attending to nature’s call, non-segregated urinals for both teachers and pupils, and inadequate funds to dispose of waste was a major challenge in all the schools visited.

 

He said even with the outbreak of cholera in the country in 2013 some schools still did not have proper waste management mechanisms which led to an indiscriminate dumping of garbage on school compounds by pupils and dishonest community dwellers.

 

He said with all those problems there were no basins and soap to enable the children to practice proper hand washing due to lack of water.

 

Mr Lartey said four years ago the same survey was carried out in about 52 schools to positively influence the quality of WASH service delivery and facilities provision at all levels in schools nationwide.

 

This current survey conducted from August to November 2016 to ascertain the situation on ground, however, showed that much needed to be done in the sector though some progress had been made, he said.

 

Mr Lartey, therefore, called on the Ghana Education Service to lead the campaign on the supervision, operation and maintenance of WASH facilities in the schools.

 

He said the parent teacher associations and school management committees must own up to their responsibilities as watchdogs on WASH services and facilities in schools, saying “that is the only way to take a step in addressing the problem.”

 

Mr Abdul-Nashiru Mohammed, the Country Director of WaterAid Ghana, urged government to ensure that complete WASH facilities were provided to these schools.

 

This, he said, was important because most often than not those facilities came without the essentials, especially water, to enable them to function as they should. 

 

GNA