Wa, April 1, GNA – The Upper West Regional Inter-agency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation (RICCS) has launched a School Open Defecation Free (ODF) league table for 33 public Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the region to rejuvenate discussions around Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in SHSs.
The School ODF League Table, which was funded by UNICEF, is the maiden edition in the Upper West Region but the second in the country after it was launched in the Northern Region.
The 33 schools were assessed based on seven indicators; access to latrines on campus by students and staff, access to WASH and condition of latrine and WASH facilities on campus; School ODF status, and commitment of the school to WASH, among others.
Cumulatively, the Nadowli-Kaleo District was the best performing district on the league table with three schools in the district – Takpo, Sombo, and St. Augustin’s SHSs – emerging first, second and third respectively on the league table.
Presenting the outcome of the assessment, Mr Tahiru Lukeman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ideapath Consult, noted that 52 per cent of the schools visited had very poor sanitation conditions, with only nine per cent of them having improved sanitation.
He noted that only 48 per cent of the schools had access to handwashing facilities, which should be a source of concern to the government and development partners.
“About 70 per cent of the schools also practiced Open Defecation. Most of the schools have good latrine coverage but the usage and maintenance of the facilities are poor,” Mr Lukeman observed.
The best three schools were given citations, wheelbarrows, detergents, and other sanitation equipment and materials to improve their sanitation status.
Madam Freda Natu, the Upper West Regional Director, Environmental Health, and Sanitation Department, explained that the schools had been left out in the ODF campaign over the years, hence, the need to launch the league table to generate discussions on the issue of sanitation in the schools.
She explained that the assessment of the schools was not to name and shame any school but to identify the sanitation gaps in the schools for advocacy as well as targeted intervention purposes.
Mr Atto Quansah, the Upper West Regional Director, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), acknowledged that some SHSs in the region do not have the requisite toilet facilities, which had compounded the challenge of OD in the schools.
He explained that the CWSA had constructed about 500 toilet facilities but that majority of them were in basic schools because such facilities were donor-driven and they dictated where they should be constructed.
He, therefore, observed that the discussions on the outcome of the league table would help set a favourable tone for development discussions as far sanitation-related issues in SHSs were concerned.
Mr Razark Z. Abdul-Korah, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, commended the RICCS and its partners for doing the assessment saying, “For the first time we have a document to work with. It will provide the directions and the way to go.”
He, however, appealed to the parties with interest in the league table, especially the media, to use the results for the intended purpose in order to achieve the desired outcome.
GNA