Amasaman school children share KVIP with community

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Community members of Amasaman are competing with about 1,600 schoolchildren of the Amasaman cluster of schools in the use of a nine-hole KVIP, which is supposed to be the place of convenience for the schools.

The schools are the Amasaman MA 1 & 2 Primary schools and the Amasaman JHS 1 & 2.
The only difference is that the schoolchildren use it for free, while members of the Amasaman municipality have to pay a fee of 30Gp, which is double the previous price of 15Gp.


Meanwhile, when the Daily Graphic visited the place last Thursday it realised that the facility was in a very poor state.

Patrons of the toilet are given old newspapers (most of which are old issues of the Daily Graphic), to clean up when they finish relieving themselves.

The appalling condition of the KVIP notwithstanding, provision has not been made for toilets in a new three-classroom block that has been put up for the children by the Amasaman Municipal Assembly.

In an interview with the head teacher of the Amasaman MA 1 Primary School, Mr Fuseini Mumuni Gariba, on why the new building had no toilet facilities, he said, “We talked about it but we were told toilets were not included in the design.”

On whether the over 60 teachers of the cluster also used the facility, Mr Gariba said, “Teachers have to run to use the hospital’s facilities when they have to attend to the call of nature.” The Amasaman hospital is next to the cluster of schools.

Responding to the same issue on the absence of toilet facilities in the new building, Mr Richard Wormenor, head teacher of the Amasaman JHS, said he was sure a social services sub-committee of the assembly, which included the circuit supervisor, was aware of the need for sanitation facilities for the schools and had plans for such facilities.

ADB-funded projects

The Director of Education for the municipality, Mr Daniel Budu Asiedu, however, told the Daily Graphic that the issue of toilets for the schools would be solved once some African Development Bank-funded classroom block projects were completed.

He said the projects, nine in all for the Ga West Municipal Assembly, were being undertaken by the contractors for the Pokuase – Awoshie road as part of their corporate social responsibility to communities along the road.

Mr Asiedu listed some of the schools to benefit from the classroom blocks, which would include toilets, as the Bin Afan School, Ayawaso Quarry MA, Amasaman MA, Pokuase Methodist School and the Pokuase A.M.E Zion School.

The others are the Ofankor MA Basic School, Ofankor Anglican School, Asofan MA Basic School and the Omanjor MA Basic School.Work on the projects, which commenced in February this year and are to be completed in February 25, were however found to be at a crawling pace.

The Amasaman MA project, for instance, was still at the foundation level when the Daily Graphic visited.

This story was first published by the Daily Graphic on October 28, 2014