Today can report that the lack of proper toilet facility has become a major problem facing most public primary and Junior High Schools (JHSs) in Mepe, a farming community in the North Tongu District of the Volta region.
State-owned schools including Mepe Presbyterian Primary, District Authority (DA) Junior High School (JHS,) Mepe Roman Catholic Primary and Junior High School (JHS) at Mepe Traditional Area have no toilet and water facilities to enhance teaching and learning in the area.
A visit to some of the public schools at the Mepe township indicated that many of these schools were faced with very scraggy-scruffy, dirty and soiled toilet facilities.
The state-owned schools which were built in 1996 by the former President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings administration were totally in disarray, Today gathered.
Today discovered that whilst some of the public schools in the area had toilets, their restrooms did not have doors or water system for users� convenience.
For instance, our checks uncovered that about 80 per cent of nursery, primary and JHSs at Mepe had no toilet facilities.
The situation, which according to some teachers who spoke on condition of anonymity, had led both teachers and students to defecate in the bush.
A primary school teacher, who said he has been in the teaching profession for the past 20 years said: �the issue of non-availability of toilet facilities has become part of the public school system in this part of the traditional area in the district.�
�It is not even being regarded as a priority at all. So, over the years, we have become accustomed to using the bush, where it is available,� he added.
Defecating in the bush, according to the teacher, was very dangerous as they [teachers & students] could be attacked by snakes or bitten by poisonous ants.
The teacher added that it was disgusting for a teacher like him to rush into the bush like a hunter to answer to �nature�s call.�
Investigations by this reporter, however, revealed that the trend with schools at Mepe showed that the government built the infrastructures without providing toilet facilities.
At Mepe Roman Catholic Junior High School, the students told Today that the toilet situation at the school was appalling, compelling them to use handkerchiefs to cover their noses to avoid offensive smell that emanated out from the toilet.
A third-year student who also spoke to Today on condition of anonymity said he contracted diarrhea from their school toilet and could not stay at home.
Today�s investigations further showed that sanitary conditions at Mepe Presbyterian Primary School were nothing to write home about.
The toilet facility at the Presbyterian Primary School, Today discovered, had an unpleasant odour.
One of the students at the school who gave her name as Mary Amekudzi said: �promises were made to them by government at the beginning of the year to improve on the facility, but those promises were yet to be fulfilled.�
She said the toilets were in a terrible state. And that she usually had to contain herself from defecating until she was at a convenient place.
The story was not different from the toilet facility at Mepe DA JHS; the toilet was too dirty that many preferred to hold what they should have given out freely from their bowels till they got to a convenient place.
On the part of girls, Today was told that they preferred instead to defecate in nylon bags and fling it over.
Open defecation has also become a common practice among students and teachers in the public schools in Mepe, which is against the World Health Organisation (WHO) prescription of a healthy living.
In an interview with Today, some opinion leaders at Mepe lamented the poor condition of toilets in the area.
According to them, unsanitary conditions typical of many school toilets in the area send the wrong message to students about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.
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