Management and students at some Five Senior High Schools in the Krobo enclave are feeling the brunt of a disconnection exercise by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) over their indebtedness to the water distribution company. Yilo Krobo SHS, Anum Presby SHS, Anum Presby Vocational Institute, Boso Senior High Technical and Akro Senior High Technical School were all, in November 2023, cut off in a nationwide disconnection exercise by GWCL.
As schools resumed in 2024, academic activities are being interrupted as students have to queue for long hours to get water from a single borehole, while others trek in search of water. Citi News understands that the situation is not only limited to these schools in the Krobo enclave but several schools in the region and beyond have also been affected with the heads being tight-lipped about the situation.
Expressing their frustrations to journalists, some said, “We have been experiencing this since August 2023, we have been through a lot. The pumping machine underground is spoilt, so sometimes we have to wake up at dawn to join this long queue. And sometimes we have to fetch water to the teachers’ bungalows.
“By the time we get to our classrooms, we are tired, and we can’t even concentrate, so we sleep in class. The time we have to learn, we use it to fetch water for the kitchen and the teachers. You can imagine the queue we will have to join when the first-year students come.”
A student of Akro Senior High Technical School also bemoaned, “The water problem in our school is affecting us negatively. At times, even going to school is a problem, especially, the girls we suffer a lot during our menses if there’s a shortage of water. Sometimes we have to go to town to get water, and even that affects our academics and studies.”
The students appealed to the government to assist the schools by providing water for them. “We are appealing to the government to get us a borehole.” Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Joshua Tekpenor, expressed worry about the situation and called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education to immediately intervene.
By: Neil Nii Kanarku
