The Gowrie Senior High Technical School in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region is facing water crisis, compelling students to spend hours in search for water.
The school, with student population of about 1,800, does not have a borehole on campus to provide potable water for staff and students, compelling the students to go out of the campus to compete with community members in order to get water to bath, drink and wash among other chores.
Checks by the Ghana News Agency showed that there were two boreholes constructed on the school campus, but the boreholes had been capped due to high fluoride content, posing water crisis to the school.
The only source of water supply to the school is from the Ghana Water Company Limited, which has its treatment plant located close to the school, however, the supply has been irregular.
This, therefore, compels the students to compete with members of the community for water at the two boreholes constructed for the community and the situation has been affecting academic activities.
Some of the students, especially the boys, risk their lives to access water to bath from the Vea Irrigation Dam, which is situated a few metres away from the school, posing risks to the lives of the students.
Further checks revealed that students who could not queue for long hours to fetch water from the community boreholes have to buy water.
Ms Elizabeth Apaaga Zinye, the Headmistress of the school, told the GNA that the water crisis had been a major challenge in the school for many years and several appeals to various stakeholders had not yielded any positive results.
‘We are not aware that the students buy water from the community but we have made passionate appeals to the District Assembly and the District Chief Executive has promised to give us a borehole but we are yet to receive it and we have also written to some NGOs for support.
‘Our major source of water supply is from the GWCL but it is not regular,’ she said, adding that students go to the Vea Dam to fetch water, which was dangerous.
‘When I took over, I was told two students died in the dam, so we have warned them not to go there to fetch water.’
She, therefore, appealed to NGOs, philanthropists and organisations to come to the aid of the school.
Ms Rita Atanga, the DCE for Bongo, noted that the Assembly was aware of the water challenge of the school and was working to get funding to help solve the problem.
Source: Ghana News Agency