Scrubbing of toilet and urinal at school not child abuse – Caretaker Minister for Gender

The Caretaker Minister for Gender, Children and Social protection, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has urged school authorities to allow pupils to help in cleaning facilities at the school.

She said cleaning of facilities, including toilets and urinals, should not only be the responsibility of school janitors but students as well.

The minister believes training pupils to clean their environment at school would inculcate discipline and help them become responsible adults.

In a response to concerns of child abuse in schools, the sanitation minister indicated that it is within the Ghanaian culture to allow children aid in domestic chores, including cleaning activities at school.

“Our children, socio-culturally, should learn to help around the house. They have household chores. Children should be trained to be disciplined and responsible. It’s a joy to see children helping around the house and school, too. We are from Garrison Primary, the children over there were holding their bins to empty them,” she emphasized.

The sector minister has been visiting some schools in the Ashanti region to monitor the welfare of school children and also to find out how school authorities are safeguarding the pupils.

Interacting with the primary school pupils, she urged them to be committed to their studies as they represent the future of Ghana.

Earlier, some caterers under the school feeding programme had threatened to boycott cooking services; demanding that the government paid their arrears.

But the caretaker minister insisted that the outstanding amounts had been settled.

She indicated that the visit was to ensure the caterers provided good and nutritious meals for the pupils.

“It’s one thing for the coordinator to tell me we cooked good food. We need to find out for ourselves.

“The cooking should be during the school period. The food should be delivered on time, nutritious and also very hot so that there won’t be any issue of them being prone to infections,” said Cecilia Dapaah.