Children dramatise need for WASH
Students in basic schools have appealed to the government to provide adequate water and toilet facilities in their schools to enhance quality education for schoolchildren.
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According to them, access to water and toilet facilities was difficult and they sometimes had to resort to easing themselves in the bush.
The schoolchildren carried their message across through a Latif Abubakar play titled ‘Bring Back Our Rights’ at the Banquet Hall of the State House as part of this year’s World Water Day celebration.
The platform was created for them by WaterAid Ghana, in partnership with European Union and Globe Productions to engage Members of Parliament (MPs) and key stakeholders on the right of children to access clean water and good toilet facilities.
A segment in the play showed the children on a demonstration carrying placards with inscriptions such as “One Child, One Tap’, ‘One Child, One Toilet’, ‘Say No To Open Defecation’ and ‘Having Water Is Life’.
Emphasising their rights to Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), the children pointed out in the play that the lack of adequate water sometimes prevented them from washing their hands when they used the toilet.
Minister
The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, was at the function and noted that the government was working to improve access to sanitation in order to end open defecation and its attendant diseases.
Mr Adda urged illegal miners to end their activities, since the practice was destroying our water bodies, adding that the government would ensure that adequate clean water was provided across the country.
A representative from the European Union, Mr Christopher Ackon, said he believed that activities such as deforestation, ‘galamsey’, over-population and climate change were some of the causes of poverty in the country.
He called on the government to join hands with corporate bodies to address the issues that affect our water bodies and sanitation.