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Pupils of the Presbyterian Primary School within the Krowor North Cluster of Schools are made to scoop urine and faecal matter everyday when they attend school. The pupils, mostly from class five, are instructed to scoop the human excreta using Milo tins without wearing any protective gloves.

On Mondays, the situation is pathetic because the pupils are tasked to scoop the urine and faecal matter which have piled up over the weekend as a result of wee smokers defecating into a hole meant for collecting urine, which is scooped out at the end of every school day.

Teachers in the school have expressed worry about the development because the stinking smell distracts classes, especially in the afternoon.

The head teacher of the school, Ms Mintah Akuffo, though disturbed about the situation, said the practice was not the best but they could not sit unconcerned either for the environment to be polluted.

She was hesitant in speaking to the media and only added that efforts had been made to hire the services of a plumber to fix the problem, but the estimate is so high that the school cannot afford it.

Intervention

The circuit supervisor of the Krowor North Cluster of Schools, Mrs Emma Obeng, said she had reported the matter to the municipal education directorate and the director had taken it up to address the problem.

She expressed worry over the devastating development and said she was hopeful it would be addressed in no time. Efforts to reach the Municipal Director of Education, Mr Yaw Fosu-Danquah, for his comment, proved futile.

Multi-purpose facility stopped

Sources at LEKMA said the assembly’s effort to construct a multi-purpose toilet facility for the school had been unsuccessful. Because the land for the purpose belonged to the Zimmerma Congregation, Nungua of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, and the assembly could not have access to it for the project.

‘Walk out of my office’

When the paper visited the office of the District Minister of the Church, Rev Brenya Abbey, he asked the reporter to “walk out of my office”. Rev. Abbey declined comment on the matter.

But, when pushed further, he said “ask yourself this question, if the church, in its wisdom, can offer a land bigger than this one for a project, and the same church is stopping the construction of a smaller project, then there must be a cause. And whoever is blaming the church, we are ready to fight to the end. Some people have taken the position to fight the church, but whoever is doing that, I don’t care, but at the right time we will respond.”

Health concerns

Tabita Nana-Yaa Agyare, a health nurse at the Krowor Cluster of Schools Adolescent Health Resource Centre, in an interview with the paper, described the situation as pathetic and warned of an outbreak of diarrhoea in the school if the situation was not addressed.

“They will be infected with any urinary infection since they don’t wear any protective clothing in the school. There is also no proper hand-washing equipment. They don’t use any antiseptic in cleaning; they use only their hands,” she said.