By Jones Anlimah
Bishop Herman College in the Volta Region is grappling with deplorable sanitary conditions which pose grave health risks to students.
The school’s current toilet facility is in an appalling state and falls short of basic sanitary standards. The deplorable conditions have led to an unfortunate and unsanitary practice where students have no choice but to defecate on the ground within the school premises, exacerbating an already alarming situation.
Bishop Herman College, located in the Kpando Municipality of the Volta Region, was established in 1925. It is the first Catholic boys’ secondary school established by the Roman Catholic Church in the Volta Region. The school has a current student population of about two thousand six hundred.
Major among the school’s challenges posing dire health risks is the use of its 70-year-old toilet facility. Not only is the facility old, but it also lacks anything worth describing as a basic sanitary facility for human use. Aside from exposing the faecal substance deposited in it, it also has cracks in it and could be described as a death trap.
The deplorable conditions of the facility have led to an unfortunate situation where some students have no choice but to defecate on the ground within the school premises, exacerbating an already alarming situation. The stench emanating from the facility is also deafening, as it is also a refuse dumping site within the school.
More worrying is the fact that two dormitories are closer to the toilet facility, thus further increasing the risk of any health danger.
This alarming situation has raised grave concerns among the school community, as the unhygienic practice poses severe health risks, potentially leading to the spread of waterborne diseases and other sanitation-related illnesses. Students are highly vulnerable to infections, and the risk of outbreaks looms large, which may affect not only the school community but other nearby suburbs in the Kpando community.
In an effort to alleviate the situation, the school has gotten another toilet facility for the students. This effort has however hit an unexpected roadblock, as the built facility remains under lock due to water challenges.
The inability to provide a reliable water supply has hindered the usage of the new facility, leaving students still burdened with dire sanitary conditions.
The distressing state of Bishop Heman College’s sanitation has prompted concerned parties, especially from the school community, to call for urgent intervention from relevant authorities.
“In fact, I am never happy because when I enter that place, the scent over there is too much for a human being. So the appeal to government on the toilet issue is that they should break it down and build a new one for us, or they should develop the water closet we have there so that we can use that one,” Master Aron Kumah Adwinpa, a student of the school said.
“It stinks: like you won’t be able to breathe well, and when you come out and you’re walking with your peers, you will feel like there is this unpleasant scent or this heat on you. Management is also trying to do its best. At least once every month, they spray the place,” another student told GBC News.
As the situation unfolds, Bishop Heman College awaits a swift response from concerned authorities and hopes for a positive change that will bring about an improvement in the sanitary conditions and, most importantly, safeguard the health and well-being of students and teachers.
The Headmaster of the school, Mr. Francis Kudolo, said management has been trying to manage the situation in a way that it won’t get out of hand and appealed for help.
“As a matter of fact, we have also identified this issue, and management is taking steps to ensure that it doesn’t get out of hand. At the moment, we have an 84-seater water closet. Unfortunately, our water situation is not very good, which is the reason we are not fully utilising the water closet,” the headmaster said.
He added, “Every now and then we continue to evacuate it, but the structure itself is getting weaker and weaker, which we cannot do anything about. So we are appealing to philanthropists, the government, and other stakeholders to come to our aid.”
A clarion call within the school’s community is for the new facility to be unlocked for use and to ensure a stable water supply to the school to mitigate the health risks posed by the current deplorable conditions. Officers of waste management company Zoomlion were evacuating the heap of refuse at the place as at the time GBC News visited the school.
