Lack of water affecting boarding system at Edinaman

Elmina, Jan. 8, GNA- Due to the lack of water supply at the Edinaman Senior High School, three newly constructed dormitories, and a dinning hall, both with the capacity for 1,500 students, provided for the take-off of the boarding system at the school, are virtually lying idle.

The two, are among facilities such as a computer centre, three tutors' bungalows, a block of six flats and a library provided by the government, under its upgrading of selected senior high schools into model schools project, and a science laboratory built by the District Assembly.

Speaking to the GNA during a visit to the school on Tuesday, Mr. Francis Amponsah Amanfu, the headmaster said the water problem began two years ago, and that in view of the situation, a total of 152 first year students who were placed in the school through the Computerized Selection and Schools Placement System (CSSPS), during this and the last academic year, failed to report.

He said the facilities were inaugurated by the President on February 24 last year and that although the school authorities were given the assurance that time, by both the Central Regional Minister and the Ghana Water Company, that water supply to the school would improve, nothing had been done.

The headmaster, said although the school has both underground and overhead water tanks, capable of storing large quantities of water, "not a drop of water had passed through the taps for the past two years", and that the authorities had been compelled to turn the old science laboratory into a boys' hostel, to enable them use the KVIP facilities on the compound, while the girls have been provided with a hostel at Pershie, a nearby village.

According to him, the requisite personnel to run the kitchen, a domestic bursar, two matrons and four cooks, have also long been in place adding that the school currently has a student population of 900. He disclosed that this term, the school had however, decided to begin the boarding system on "experimental basis", and would open two of the three dormitories, following the provision of two mechanized boreholes fitted with hand pumps provided by the PTA at a cost of GH=A212,000.00, pending the normalization of the water situation. The headmaster, said for the past two years, the school had, through its own resources and with assistance from the PTA, been spending about GH=A2440.00 a month on water, mostly for the running of its canteen. He said the delay in the start of the boarding system, was affecting discipline and teaching and learning, since students who do not live in the boys' or girls' hostels, cannot be supervised and many students also report to school late.

When contacted, Mr Mac-Doe Hanyabui, Project Engineer at the GWC and Project Manager in-charge of the Cape Coast water expansion project, at Sekyere-Hemang, explained that pipelines in some communities in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) district, including those to the school, are to be interconnected with the pipelines at Sekyere-Hemang to improve water supply. He could however, not say when the situation in the school would improve, but said the inter-connection project is slated to begin this month. The 40-million euro Sekyere-Hemang water project which has been completed is expected to provide 30,000 cubic metres of water a day up to the year 2020.