Over 40% of basic schools don’t have toilet facilities – GAMA-SWP

More than 40% of basic schools in Ghana do not have sanitation facilities, the Ghana Sanitation and Water Project has revealed.

According to managers of the project, in a few cases where the facilities exist, they’re found in terrible shape.

To meet the global SDG six target, Ghana needs to have a minimum of 944,000 household and institutional toilets for the next 7 years. This means the country is required to build 120,000 facilities annually to bridge its sanitation gap.

Sanitary Engineer of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Ghana Sanitation and Water Project(SEP), Gabriel Engmann says even though the project has made huge gains, a lot more needs to be done.

“Looking at the time and the Budget that is going to sanitation, we need a lot more funds to push the project forward because given the percentage that we even talked about, for all schools to have these toilets we need to be hitting all the regions with an aggressive approach.

"Because it takes quite some time to put this infrastructure and a system for operation and maintenance in place. And let’s say roughly seven and eight years is quite a short period for us to achieve the full SDG targets. So it’s quite a herculean task.

"We cannot if we don’t put in the necessary resources. Looking at its entirety, the household toilets, school toilets, and also waste water treatment systems in place we need a lot of money to push this target and meet them in 2030,” Engmann told Starr News.