Tema Community Eight pupils defecate in the open

Pupils of the Tema Community Eight cluster of schools defecate in the open on the school compound due to a sewer line problem.

The cluster of schools, which has classes from kindergarten to Junior High School, has abandoned the over 20- seat water closet toilet as faeces could not be flashed down the line.

Mr Owusu Asare, Tema Metropolitan School Management Chairman, told the media that the schools' sewer line sunk some years back leading to a blockage in the line to the main Community 08 sewer line.

He said this on Tuesday when officials from the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) accompanied Mrs Victoria Adzato-Ntem, Tema Metropolitan Education Director, to interact with new pupils in some selected schools to mark the 2014 "My first day at school" programme.

Mr Asare said until the sunken sewer line was replaced, the pupils would have no choice but to defecate in the open.

Teachers at the school expressed their worry about the situation stating that it could bring about a cholera outbreak in the school.

They said KG and lower primary pupils were normally accompanied by the older ones to the far end of the school to ease themselves.

A new kindergarten block constructed three years ago has also developed cracks and has class size that is too small.

Some of the primary classes have to either move and join other classes or rearrange desks as the roofs leak badly when it rains.

At the Adjei-kojo TMA School, Mrs Adzato-Ntem directed the head of the school to admit every child who is brought to the school for admission.

She said even though there was not enough space to accommodate the children, the school was the only public school for the area and refusing them admission would not be fair.

"If they have money to go to the private schools, they would have done so, therefore admit all of them," she said.

She also appealed to the TMA to provide the school with tents and movable boards as a temporal measure to accommodate the pupils.

Mrs Adzanto-Ntem urged the Assembly to as a matter of urgency complete an abandoned school building project to augment the limited classroom accommodation.

The Educational Director also questioned why some school projects were constructed without toilet facilities.

The TMA and Education Directorate officials interacted with the pupils and said they should always attend school and learn hard to enable them become professionals in future.

Health officials who accompanied the team educated pupils and parents on cholera and Ebola and told them to regularly wash their hands with soap under running water.