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Residents of Sedorm in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region have turned the Ponponya LA Primary and KG school located in the area, into a toilet facility where they engage in open defecation.

The situation has resulted in the teachers threatening to boycott teaching if the practice persists.

Mr Joshua Bonnah, headmaster of the school, who expressed worry over the situation, in an interview with The Ghanaian Times, explained that the unfortunate practice has been ongoing for about two years.

He said for current academic year the indiscriminate defecation in the school has occurred over five times blaming the incident on the state of the classroom block which is uncompleted and has no doors and windows, giving intruders free access.

Apart from the classrooms, he said the residents also defecate into the water reservoir provided for the school, adding that the situation was affecting teaching and learning.

“Our classrooms are not completed so these people get into it and do their own thing. The roof is even off and we will wish the Ghana Education Service address this for us,” he stated.

Mr Bonnah however called on the District Education office in the area to intervene, threatening that they would stop teaching if nothing is done about the situation.

Some teachers who spoke to the Ghanaian Times on condition of anonymity blamed the practice on the lack of toilet facilities in the area, and called on government and stakeholders in the education sector to provide basic facilities in the area for the residents.

Mr Proper Yepkle, Deputy District Education Director of Supervision for the Ghana Education Service in Asuogyaman, told the Times that even though the classrooms were not completed, residents had no right to be defecating in them.

He stated that the provision of the toilet facility in the area was the responsibility of the district assembly and therefore called on them to provide a place of convenience for residents to stop the practise.

“The situation is unfortunate and disrupting effective teaching and learning in the school as pupils would have to come to school and clean the mess of others,” he said, adding that his outfit would have a meeting with the community leaders on the issue.

He, however, stated that failure on the part of the residents to stop the practice would cause the district education office to close down the school.