ActionAid Ghana has handed over five mechanised boreholes and five urinal facilities to public basic schools in the Northern Region. The move aims to boost access to clean water and sanitation in underserved schools.
The beneficiary schools include Kalariga Saqafat Islamic Primary, Kpanvo Islamic Primary, Kulnyevila Primary, Dimala Zion Primary, and Gbarima M/A Primary. These schools, located in the Tamale Metropolitan and Sagnarigu Municipal Assemblies, are expected to serve hundreds of pupils with clean water and improved hygiene facilities.
At the handover ceremony, ActionAid stated that this intervention is part of its broader commitment to promoting the health and well-being of children through improved Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure. The goal is to support children’s right to a clean and safe learning environment.
Speaking on behalf of the Northern Regional Programme Manager, Mrs. Beatrice Yanman emphasised the importance of hygiene in schools. She said many basic schools lack clean water and functioning toilets. Where facilities exist, they are often broken, shared by both sexes, or far from the school compound.
She noted that poor sanitation forces some girls to miss up to four days of school every month during their menstrual cycle. This, she explained, undermines their right to education and violates provisions in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
Mrs. Yanman called on school leaders to maintain the new facilities and urged communities to take ownership. She said that healthy children stay in school, and clean water is a vital part of that equation.
Dabokpa Circuit Education Director, Alhaji Mahamadu Issahaka, thanked ActionAid for its support of school development in the region. The Chief of Kalariga, Abdul Rahaman Zakaria, also expressed the community’s gratitude for the donation.
