Cluster of basic schools near the Ghana School of Law at Mokola in Accra has no single toilet for its 1,300 pupils and 60 teachers.
The schools are Independence Avenue Basic One Primary and Junior High with a pupil population of 400 and 15 teachers,Independence Avenue Basic Two- Primary and Junior High with 400 pupils and 15 teachers, Bishop Boys� Primary with 300 pupils and 15 teachers and Odartey Lamptey Primary School with 300 pupils and 12 teachers.
Ghana News Agency investigations on Thursday showed that the teachers and pupils use an unkempt public toilet nearby. The only facility that comes close to a toilet is a single urinal for male, female teachers and pupils.
GNA observed that few meters from the gate to the compound are roasted plantain sellers, second hand clothes and others going about their businesses shouting at the top of their voices to attract customers.
Some female head porters also sneak to the compound and use it as resting place.
GNA observed that the traders and hawkers use the school also as refuge when taking temporary shelter from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Task Force�s intermittent swoop.
Some of the teachers told the GNA that the location of the schools had exposed both teachers and pupils to unnecessary invasion from traders, pick pockets, and other elements.
�The relentless noise from the traders who have adopted all sort of means including the use of loud speakers, shouting and clapping to attract customers makes it difficult for the pupils to concentrate in class.�
�Our proximity to a major business street is also a major challenge�conditions are not conducive for academic work,� a teacher told the GNA.
The schools� compound also serves as a storehouse for some traders, providing temporary parking space for some shoppers and a home to some porters.
�So, not only do the schools lack toilet facility but also the multiple activities that go on on the compound to not make teaching and learning effective,� another teacher told the GNA.
He said pupils are always going out of the school compound with excuses to use the public toilet near the school or to collect money from a mother who sells near the school.
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