Perfect no longer carries water from the house to school
Water is essential for human survival, and it also plays a crucial role in the education of children in formal schools. However, some communities and schools in Ghana do not have access to safe water. According to the Education Management Information System (EMIS) (2020), 25% of public schools in Ghana do not have access to clean water. A student called Perfect, from Agorhokpo Roman Catholic Basic School in the Agotime-Ziope District of the Volta Region of Ghana, shared how the lack of basic access to water in her school and community was hindered her and and other children's educational improvement opportunities.
Their only source of water was a stream several kilometres away from the community. Because of this situation, children in Agohorkpo had to walk long distances every day to access this water source for household chores before going to school. They were often late for school because of the stress they had to go through to get water each morning. Perfect also mentioned that a schedule was made for the children to carry water from home to school every day so that the school could have some water for cleaning, drinking and other purposes.
However, the water they carried to school was not enough to sustain them. Some of them often went home to drink water during school hours and did not return. Sometimes they could not stay for extra-curricular activities because of the lack of water in the school. This situation affected the children's contact time with teachers for academic and other activities in school. In August 2023, World Vision Ghana completed a solar-powered mechanised water system for the children and people of the Agohorkpo community.
The water system, valued at around $45,000, has eight water taps, including at the Roman Catholic Primary School where Perfect is a pupil, and is expected to benefit over one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven people.
"We currently have a standpipe in our school with two taps which provides us with enough clean and safe water in the school for cleaning, drinking, and hand washing. We have water points in my community, and I even have one near my house. We do not spend more than 10 minutes to access these water points for household chores. This has relieved us from the stress of getting water for the household chores every morning before going to school. Myself and my colleagues no longer carry water from the house to school. My attendance and punctuality in school have improved, as have those of my colleagues. We no longer skip classes to look for water to drink at home. This has improved our contact hours with our teachers for academic activities. We can now undertake extracurricular activities such as school health club meetings. My colleagues and I are now very happy in school because we now have life for academic activities in the school," Perfect shared enthusiastically.