Don’t mix free SHS with GHANASCO saga - NPP fires back

The ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) has fired back at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) over claims that the current ‘toilet to cubicle’ saga is as a result of the Free SHS, indicating that the challenge is school specific and not a general phenomenon.

A member of the NPP communication team, Ellen Ama Daaku, who spoke on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana dispelled the claims by the opposition.

According to her, the current challenge in GHANASCO is school specific and must not be generalised to the whole free SHS system.

“The fact that this issue has happened, that doesn’t make the whole program ‘useless’...let’s not forget that the NDC sponsored 47 adverts in 2016 against free SHS. So, I am not surprised that all of them, the whole party, will just pick an incident and stand on to say free SHS is bad,” she said.

In defending the program, Ellen Daaku, stressed the benefit of the Free SHS program the impact it has had on some families in Ghana despite the minor challenges it has faced over the years.

“Free SHS is not bad, it has saved a lot of families…we need to get our children educated. Some schools will have issues, like this issue,” she added.

Some of the issues, she continued, can be managed while some are terrible.

However, she pleaded with the public to exercise patient and wait for the investigation report by the Ghana Education Service.

“Just as GES has said, they are looking into the matter, they’ve given us two weeks and they are going to bring the results. You don’t go bastardizing, calling in the president because, a headmaster decided to put school children on toilets,” she added.

Background

The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak, shared a video alleged to be a shot of a toilet facility of Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO) in Tamale turned into a sleeping place for students.

The said video, which has been sighted by GhanaWeb, showed student mattresses, chop boxes, bags and other student materials in the toilet compartment of a washroom.

Some of the materials and the students could also be seen in the hallway of the washroom.

In another video shared by the MP, a form one student named Godlove confirmed that he is one of the students sleeping in the toilet-turned-dormitory due to a lack of student housing.

He said that the students have now resorted to open defecation, which has led to a health crisis in the school with students always falling sick.

“Since we come as year one’s, we have never been to a toilet to ease ourselves. Every time open defecation and people passing by see us.

“… we just sit at the back here to eat and the flies (from where we ease ourselves) will be disturbing us. Sometimes when the run is too much it blows the breeze here and the scent is unbearable.

“As am standing here, I was sick just last Friday … I was diagnosed with typhoid and malaria,” he narrated.

Godlove pleaded with authorities to come to their aid by helping put up structures they can at least use as toilets.



NW/DO