Peter Dada, Akure
Pupils of public schools in Ondo State have called on the Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, to provide toilet facilities in their schools.
The pupils made the call at the 2017 Menstrual Health and Hygiene Day programme, organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation in Ondo State, the Girls to Women Research Centre, held in Akure, the state capital on Thursday.
Some of the public secondary schools pupils who participated in the programme said there were no toilet facilities in their schools.
A pupil from Omoluorogbo Grammar School, Akure, lamented that the only toilet available in the school was for the teachers and which, according to her, was out of bounds to pupils..
Another pupil from another public school, Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School in Akure, disclosed that though there were four toilets in the school, they were not enough to serve the entire school community, adding that pupils usually rushed back home to defecate if the four toilets were occupied.
However, the wife of the governor, Mrs. Betty Akeredolu, assured that government would take measures to solve the problem.
Akeredolu, who was represented at the event by her Special Assistant on Gender, Research and Documentation, Mrs. Temitope Daniyan, commended the participants for bringing the problems to the knowledge of the government.
She said, “Now that the government’s attention has been drawn to the problem, I am very sure something will be done about it.”
The Executive Director of the G2W Research Centre, Mrs. Olamide Falana, explained that lack or insufficiency of toilets in public schools was detrimental to the growth of the pupils and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals to provide sanitation for all by 2030.
Falana, who said the event was to commemorate the Menstrual Health and Hygiene Day, tasked stakeholders to intensify efforts to enable girls to stay in school through the provisions of conducive environment.
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