Female Students of Oyoko Methodist Senior High School (OMESS) in Koforidua in the Eastern Region engage in open defecation due to the perilous state of their toilet facilities.
The two pit latrines provided for female boarding students in the school are in deplorable condition whilst the roofs are tattered.
Disgustingly, the toilet facilities are also full but yet to be emptied.
Female boarding students who are not able to improvise the facilities at the peril of their health, buy packets of black polythene bags to school to defecate into it and throw them away.
“The toilet is very bad and it is even full. The heat that comes from it is worrying. Last three days like this, it rained heavily. I needed to come to ease myself, I couldn’t come but I saw people with umbrellas. They could send the umbrellas inside but the roof is not well and the umbrellas cannot go inside so it will rain on you but you have to try else you will defecate on yourself,” Acheampong Bernice, a female boarding student lamented.
“The toilet is full up and the maggots are coming out of the toilet. It is very bad,” another female boarding student Grace Mary Laryea said.
The situation has resulted in a surge in open defecation around the girls’ dormitory.
“People are defecating around. The toilet is full and bushy so we are not able to go there during the evening time so we have to shit in rubbers then we throw it to the other side of the building. The roof of the toilet is spoilt so when it rains we cannot even go inside,” Acheampong Bernice added.
The female boarding students decried that, they get infections whenever they visit the toilet facility.
“It sometimes gives us white and some itches at the down part. The heat that comes from the toilets alone is enough to make you sick” a student lamented
Another student said “I went for check-up and they said I have typhoid so I went home to treat it. I was supposed to be in school and learn but I went home for two weeks. When I came my friends were ahead of me. So it is really hurting us. It is not helping the school.”
The struggle for decent toilet facilities is not limited to only female boarding students but the males as well.
Starr News Eastern Regional Correspondent Kojo Ansah who sneaked into the school to report on the situation observed that part of the toilet facility for the male boarding students had caved in but was still being used.
The stench was unbearable hence students had to remove their uniforms before attending to nature call to avoid smearing the uniform with the bad odour.
“Part of the toilet has caved in so if you don’t take care you may fall in. The toilet is also full. Sometimes we do get scared by snakes coming into the lavatory. Over 1000 boys use this lavatory. On Thursdays when boys go to the dining hall to eat beans for instance. You see a long line over here and boys will be like oh chale hurry up hurry up me too I dey want shunk, Sometimes some of them do it in the bush others too on campus.”
Koforidua Oyoko Methodist Senior High School is the most populated senior high school in the Eastern region with a students population size of over 4,000.
It is also the third most populous school in Ghana.
The school, however is facing serious challenges including infrastructure, logistics and inadequate desks.
OMESS does not have a School bus to transport students for academic and sporting activities outside campus following the breakdown of the only available bus provided many years ago.
The inner roads in the school are in a deplorable state and unmotoroble. The situation has been worsened by erosion.
The poor illumination on campus as a result of inadequate street lights also threaten the security of the students.
The Headmaster of the school declined to comment on the matter.
Source: Ghana/starrfm.com.gh/Kojo Ansah
