Nearly months after Ultimate Radio broke the news of the precarious state of the toilet of the Achinakrom Senior High School after a teacher slipped and fell headlong into the toilet; the Ejisu Juabeng Municipal Assembly says it has not been able to pull down the ramshackle toilet because it has no funds to build a new one.
The facility which is near collapse has not seen any rehabilitation works since its construction in the 1980s. It serves both teachers and students, and has cracks all over posing danger to users.
Speaking to Ultimate Radio, some students of the school bitterly complained that they feared for their lives whenever they visited the toilet and therefore found alternative means of attending to nature’s call which included doing it in the bush.
“The toilet is not safe at all. The walls are all broken and it can kill someone at any time. Even what we sit on is cracked, so if you sit on it and you are not fortunate you will fall in” one student described.
“I fear for my life because if I go there and fall into it and no one finds me early, that is the end of my life “another student intimated.
The students expressed frustration about the stench that emanates from the toilet which disrupts teaching and learning.
One student said “during the afternoon when the sun is very hot, the toilet evaporates which brings the smell out and when we are studying, we cannot concentrate on the studies”.
Although the Ghana Education Service, (GES) admits the facility is in a bad state and must be pulled down, the Ejisu Juabeng Municipal Assembly says it has no funds to build a new one.
The Ejisu Juabeng Municipal Engineer, Ismaila Amadu who assessed the facility told Ultimate Radio’s Nana Oye Diabene that his outfit had been constrained in pulling down the structure as “the students will have no alternative.”
He explained that the school had done some cement works to close up the gaping hole until any funds could be released for a decent and safe facility to be built for them.
When contacted, the Ejisu Juabeng Municipal Chief Executive, Afrifa Yamoah Ponko, told Nana Oye the project had been slated for consideration under a programme currently underway to start various projects in schools in the Ashanti Region.
He said although the assembly had seen the report of the engineers and was convinced that the facility was “dilapidated,” the assembly has so many responsibilities to deal with.”
He however assured that the reconstruction of the school’s toilet has been factored into the Assembly’s plan.”
