Over 1,000 Bawjiase DA School pupils share one toilet facility

Pupils of the Bawjiase D/A Basic A and B schools in the Central Region have been forced to practise open defecation at the community’s only refuse dump just about 80 metres away from the schools’ premises owing to the lack of proper toilet facilities.

The two schools with a combined population of over 1,000 pupils have only one toilet facility split into one-seater male and female cubicles serving the primary schools.

The situation suggests that at every point in time, there can only be one male or female pupil using the toilets, compelling majority of the schoolchildren to use the refuse dump.

Checks by the Daily Graphic also revealed that the teachers of the school and the junior high school students have no toilet facilities at all.

When the Daily Graphic visited the schools last Thursday, it observed that even the toilet facility currently in use was in a bad state with broken pipes.

Next to it was a dilapidated staff washroom earmarked for demolition.

As if these were not enough, the proximity of the refuse dump to the schools’ premises and some homes was a frightening spectacle, given the health implications it posed to both students and staff.

At breaktime, pupils were seen frequenting the refuse dump without recourse to their susceptibility to animal bites and other unpleasant encounters.

Death trap

The Assistant Headmaster of the Bawjiase D/A Basic B, Mr Philip Ahiagbah, who bemoaned the situation in an interview with the Daily Graphic described the toilet facility as a “death trap” and the refuse dump, a “health threat”.

“If a toilet like that is not in a good condition, anything at all can happen at any time. A child can go there and the wall can break and it will cause a whole lot of issues. Anytime it rains and the sun shines, you cannot stand there. The place smells badly,” he said.

He mentioned that attempts to stop the schoolchildren from using the refuse dump had failed because sanitary facilities had not been provided.

 “We don’t have toilet for the teachers. So when you are pressed, you go to somebody’s house to put yourself at ease,” he added.

Futile efforts

In his account, Mr Ahiagbah also indicated that several efforts to get authorities to remedy the situation had been fruitless.

“The PTA is aware; the assembly member is aware and even the district assembly is aware. We applied for toilet last year and even in 2019, and then we wrote a reminder. When we applied, they sent a team of technical men from the assembly last year to come and have a look at it.

“They have been here for about three or four times and the DCE himself came. He said it is in the pipeline,” he recounted.

He added that “when we wrote a letter concerning the toilet, we factored in the ‘borla’ (refuse dump). The DCE and everybody are aware but I think the problem is where to relocate the ‘borla’ to.”

Schoolchildren’s ordeal

A class six pupil, Benjamin Addo, narrated how destructive the situation had been to teaching and learning in the schools over the years.

“When we are studying, the scent comes here and the smell is unbearable. When it comes, we can’t stay in the class, so the teacher must go out [and] then the class becomes noisy.

For Patricia Tetteh, a JHS student, she said she always rushed home when she was pressed.

“It is a problem to me because when we are learning and it happens like that, I would have to leave the class and go home. So, by the time I come back; imagine if it were mathematics, I would not understand the concept taught,” she lamented.

The assistant headmaster made two passionate appeals to all relevant authorities to urgently “remove the rubbish dump” and provide the schools with modern toilet facilities.

“We want the ‘borla’ to be removed because it is posing a health threat to us. If it is removed today or tomorrow, we will be happy,” he requested.

“For the toilets, we need new ones. We can’t repair the toilets. So we need modern toilets. The boys should have about four to six seats and the girls too, the same. And then the teachers should also have toilets,” Mr Ahiagbah added.  #GraphicCleanGH