A member of the Public Accounts Committee and MP for Kpando, Sebastian Fred Deh, has revealed that schools across Ghana are facing a staggering 94.5% deficit in toilet facilities, exposing millions of pupils to poor sanitation and unhealthy learning conditions.
Speaking on Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report following stakeholder engagements on sanitation in schools, Deh said only about 7,000 out of an estimated 125,000 school infrastructure projects across the country have toilet facilities.
He attributed the situation to the failure to incorporate sanitation facilities into many school buildings constructed under the Ghana Education Service (GES).
According to him, the omission has continued to undermine hygiene standards in schools and negatively affect the welfare of students.
Deh therefore called on the Ghana Education Service and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to strengthen collaboration to ensure that all future school infrastructure projects include adequate toilet facilities.
School sanitation has remained a persistent challenge in Ghana, with inadequate toilet facilities repeatedly identified as a major barrier to quality education. The lack of proper sanitation infrastructure has particularly affected adolescent girls, many of whom are forced to miss classes during menstruation due to the absence of safe and appropriate facilities.
Beyond its impact on school attendance, poor sanitation also increases the risk of communicable diseases and creates an unhealthy environment that affects teaching and learning.
Although successive governments, with support from development partners, have implemented several Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) initiatives aimed at improving sanitation in schools, progress has been uneven, particularly in underserved communities.
The PAC’s findings underscore the scale of the challenge and highlight the urgent need for coordinated efforts among the GES, MMDAs, and development partners to close the sanitation infrastructure gap in schools.
Improving access to toilet facilities in schools is also essential to Ghana’s efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which seeks to ensure universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030.
Although successive governments, with support from development partners, have implemented several Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) initiatives aimed at improving sanitation in schools, progress has been uneven, particularly in underserved communities.
The PAC’s findings underscore the scale of the challenge and highlight the urgent need for coordinated efforts among the GES, MMDAs, and development partners to close the sanitation infrastructure gap in schools.
Improving access to toilet facilities in schools is also essential to Ghana’s efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which seeks to ensure universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030.
Source: GNA
