Tamale, Communities, especially those around Senior High Schools (SHS) have been urged to be keen on safeguarding the health of the students by keeping their surroundings clean.
Mr Suleman Yakubu, Northern Regional Director of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, who made the call, urged members of the public to desist from defecating on school compounds, because it posed health implications to the lives of students.
He made the call at the launching of the second inter-SHS Open Defecation Free (ODF) League Table in Tamale.
It was organised by the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Northern Regional Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, and the Regional Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation with support from UNICEF and Catholic Relief Services.
The inter-SHS ODF League Table assessed the best water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices at all the 39 public SHSs in the region and communities.?
After the assessment, Saint Charles SHS was first, followed by Sang Community Day SHS whilst Al-Maktoum SHS came third, and Presby SHS was fourth out of the four schools assessed.
Mr Yakubu said schools had huge roles to play in sanitation issues but indicated however that most of them were faced with indiscriminate littering by community members.?
Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, said the inter-SHS ODF League Table was instituted for students to embrace cleanliness before leaving school.
Alhaji Saibu said it would further create healthy competition among schools to improve sanitation in the schools and in the region.?
Dr Peter Attafuah, Northern Regional Director of Education said the ODF League Table would compel SHSs to be hygiene conscious.?
He said the League Table did not seek to emphasise position but rather a way to motivate schools, who were beneath the list, to do more regarding WASH.
He entreated school authorities to meet with community leaders to build a school-community relation to cajole them to stop littering school compounds.
Source: Ghana News Agency
