Windstorm wrecks havoc in Pusiga

Windstorm last week hit some parts of the Pusiga District in the Upper East Region and ripped off the roofs of many buildings including eight public schools.

Unfortunately, basic schools would reopen next Monday and parents and the District Assembly are worried that teaching and learning would be hindered as the rains have set in.

Speaking to the GNA in an interview at Pusiga, Mr Alhassan Abugbila, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, said the Assembly alone could not address the problem appealed to Government, the National Disaster Management Organization, non-governmental organizations and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the Assembly to re-roof the affected schools.

Mr Abugbila called on all schools and communities in the District to develop the culture of maintenance, particularly before the rainy season, and urged them to grow trees around school buildings to serve as windbreaks.

The DCE directed the Executive Committee of the Social Services Committee of the Assembly to ensure that the District Education Oversight Committee (DEOC) and the District Directorate of Education stepped up their monitoring roles in the schools to help improve upon academic performance.

“All schools close to the National Grid should be connected to electricity to aid in teaching and learning of ICT and the District Directorate of Education should facilitate the acquisition of assets register for all schools in the District before the end of the year”.

The DCE said the District was considering holding an educational forum to develop a workable strategy to improve upon the quality of teaching and learning in the District.

He urged Assembly members to educate the people in their respective electoral areas to appreciate the need to maintain a clean environment as the rainy season is also associated with diseases like malaria and cholera.

“I urge all to focus on behavioral change communication that will address open defecation, stagnant water and the indiscriminate disposal of plastic bags which has engulfed most of our communities”.

The DCE commended communities that have been declared open defecation free and entreated Assembly members, traditional and religious and opinion leaders to ensure that the remaining ones adopt the Community Led Total Sanitation model to enable them achieve open defecation free status.

The Pusiga District is among the forty-five Districts that were created in 2012; it was carved from the Bawku East District.