A serious water scarcity has hit Nyakoi Upper Basic and Senior Secondary school in Wuli West, Upper River Region.
According to reliable sources, it’s almost three months now the school has been running without water.
The borehole that served as the main water source for the school has stopped functioning since January this year. The borehole was dug in 1995 when the school was built by then AFPRC government.
Meanwhile, the problem was also confirmed by Mr. Pateh Jallow, the principal of Nyakoi Upper Basic and Senior Secondary School.
“Our students are finding it difficult to stay in the school because they can’t use the toilets due to lack of water, girls on mensuration are even more affected and our school garden is also destroyed,” he lamented.
According to him, the school has been experiencing lack of water since January and this has created a lot of problems for both students and teachers.
“In fact, it’s our caretaker in the school who carries twenty-liter gallons on a donkey cart and push the cart with those gallons of water to the school for our students to drink which is even not enough for drinking and for sanitation. I am staying with my family at the school quarters and have to use my motorcycle to get water from the community to the school which is almost a kilometer. Some days, we had to close school earlier than normal when the water brought by the caretaker gets finished. This is causing the school a big loss of instructional time. Our school garden failed when the plants were at fruiting stage because of the water problem,” said Mr Jallow.
Meanwhile, the problem in the school is not just limited to lack of water but there is also a problem with the infrastructure as the school boys and girls’ toilets collapsed underground and not safe to be used.
“The school built two outside pit toilets that the students are using. The girls are using one pit toilet and the boys are using the other pit since September 2021. These toilets are not even roofed. Fetching water with motorcycle for my family for three months has also cost me a lot of fuel,” he stressed.
“Schools are closing for the Easter holidays this week and resume on the 25th April 2022. If this water issue is not fixed, the third term will be very difficult for the school as the caretakers are tired of pushing cart filled with gallons of water.”
Meanwhile, the school is looking for assistance from government, NGOs and philanthropists to help fix the problem of water and toilet before school resumes for the next term.
You can contact The Standard via email if you wish to assist the school: [email protected]
