A file photo
Students of the Apegusu Senior High School in the Eastern Region can now heave a sigh of relief, thanks to the provision of a 12-seater water closet (WC) toilet facility and mechanized borehole handed over to the school to address its sanitation challenges.
The toilet facility replaces a deplorable obsolete, foul-smelling pit latrine made from old iron sheets which the male students, in the face of any alternatives were compelled to use.
GhanaWeb in May, 2021 reported about the sanitation crisis being faced by the school occasioned by the absence of a befitting place of convenience for the students.
The Mankralo of the Akwamu-Adonten Traditional Area, Apegusu, Nana Akwei Dedey II during the period facilitated efforts to bring attention to the infrastructural plight, including the lack of a decent place of convenience confronting the students.
District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, Samuel Kwame Agyekum said the project was part of the NPP government’s efforts to improve on educational infrastructure in the various senior high schools as part of its campaign promised to make education free and accessible.
Speaking in an interview after he commissioned the project, the Assembly Chief noted that government directly funded the construction of the facility which took about five months to build through the District Assemblies Common Fund to address the rising challenges of sanitation confronting the school.
“The government of Ghana through the District Assemblies Common Fund provided the funding for this modern toilet facility at the Apegusu Senior High School because sanitation was becoming a problem,” he said.
Acknowledging that the school lacks other infrastructure including dormitories, classroom blocks, teachers’ residential facilities, he furthered that though funding for the five government- assisted secondary schools in the district was limited, the funds were nevertheless managed to ensure that each got a fair share for development.
The DCE however urged the students and school authorities to ensure that the facility is well- managed to ensure that it lasts long to serve its purpose.
Headmistress for the school, madam Victoria Badoo who received the facility on behalf of the school expressed her appreciation to the District Assembly for the successful completion of the project and promised that it will be put to good use.
She however appealed for other facilities which the school is in dire need of. These she mentioned as classroom blocks, a boys’ dormitory, a science block and a laboratory.
Mankralo of Apegusu, Nana Akwei Dedey II an old student of the school expressed his gratitude to the DCE for heeding the cries of the school and ensuring that the required resources were provided for the project.
The chief in an interview after the commissioning said the traditional leadership of the community commenced several initiatives to help address the problem following countless approaches from the school authorities for assistance.
Expressing relief over the provision of the new facility, the chief thanked President Akufo-Addo and Kwame Agyekum for providing the toilet together with some other needs of the school but appealed to and called on government to ensure that it facilitates the provision of other critical needs of the school.
