The Nungua Senior High School (SHS) in the Ledzokuku-Krowor municipality has been saved from closure with the completion and handover of its 27-seater toilet facility.
Work on the abandoned toilet facility resumed last Friday. The contractors completed the finishing works, which included plumbing, tiling and surface dressing on the walls to finally make the toilet operational.
Insanitary conditions in the school’s toilet led to faecal matter always overflowing from the septic tank.
However, after a public outcry born from the order of the Teshie-Nungua District Court to have the school closed down on November 24, 2017 over the insanitary and dehumanising conditions at the school’s place of convenience for female students, the work has been completed in record time.
It took the timely intervention of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Krowor, Ms Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, and the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) last Friday to prevent the closure of the school.
Ms Quaye, last Friday, provided five mobile toilets for use by the female students, while the assembly appealed to the court to suspend the enforcement of its order and give it time to address the challenges ahead of the completion of the new toilet facility.
Handover
The MP, who is also the Minister of Fisheries, while handing over the new facility, regretted that the facility was abandoned for months, despite the growing insanitary conditions at the school.
She wondered what the motivation was for the sanitary inspectors in the Ledzokuku-Krowor municipality who took the school’s management to court over the condition.
“Why did the assembly not collaborate with the Municipal Education Unit to address the problem, instead of resorting to a court action? If there is a fine, is it not the state that will bear the cost?” Ms Quaye queried.
The new Municipal Director of Education who resumed duty at the municipality yesterday, Mrs Gloria Clerk, described the situation as overwhelming for a school that was located within the heart of Accra.
She expressed disappointment with the action of the municipal sanitary inspectors for sending the school to court, instead of the assembly helping to address the insanitary conditions.
Another danger
Meanwhile, a dilapidated one-storey boy’s dormitory building at the Nungua SHS is to be demolished to pave the way for the construction of a new one.
The structure, which has been in a bad state since 2014, has developed further serious defects, a situation school authorities say could be disastrous.
Source: Daily Graphic
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