By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Wa (UW/R), Aug. 26, GNA – Access to water by students of T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School (SHS) in Wa has been a major challenge and has negatively affected academic activities and learning outcomes in the school for many years.
The learners were sometimes compelled to report late for classes because of the several hours they spent searching for water to bathe and attend early morning classes.
The water access situation in the school also often exposed the learners to waterborne diseases, as they sometimes relied on unwholesome water sources outside the school for domestic use.
However, the learners and the school authorities had been relief of the ordeal after the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) commissioned a solar-powered mechanised borehole for the school.
The initiative, implemented in partnership with Humanity First Ghana, formed part of the Authority’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the government’s resetting agenda.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a brief ceremony to commission the facility, Qaaimah Mac Adams, the Girls’ Prefect of the School, said because of the water access challenges, the students sometimes faced punishment from teachers for reporting late for classes.
“At times, some of us do not bathe before going for classes, but now we bathe twice a day,” she said, adding that it would enable them to maintain better personal hygiene.
Kunkuni Masroor, the Senior Prefect, confirmed that students were prone to water-related sicknesses because of the poor water access situation, with the learners frequently presenting typhoid cases at health facilities.
He said with the mechanised borehole providing a reliable source of water for the school, it would significantly reduce their challenges, leading to an improvement in teaching and learning.
The learners, therefore, expressed gratitude to the GMA and its partners for the intervention and prayed for additional support to the school, particularly in the provision of toilet facilities.
Mr Issahaque Yahaya, the Headmaster of the T.I. Ahmadiyya SHS, commended the benefactors for the intervention, saying it would save the over 1,400 students in the school from their ordeal of having to search for water daily at the expense of their academic work.
He passionately appealed for additional toilet facilities for the school as the entire student population relied on a 12-seater KVIP facility, which had made it difficult to control open defecation.
At the Boli Basic School, the water situation was not different as the learners, hitherto, used their break periods to go home to drink water, with some failing to return to school.
Mr Osman Issa, the headteacher of the school, told the GNA that the situation adversely affected children’s learning outcomes, as considerable contact hours were lost to the search for water to drink during contact hours.
He, therefore, said the mechanised borehole had eliminated the need for students to leave the school to search for water.
Naval Captain (rtd) Dr Kamal-Deen Ali, the Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, explained that the intervention was expected to improve attendance and reduce water-related disruptions to academic activities at the beneficiary schools.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Philip Tengzu, GNA
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