The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Foundation on Monday commissioned a 24 seater toilet facility for the Bompeh Senior High Technical School in Takoradi to improve the sanitary conditions of the school.
Mr Dominic Eduah, Executive Director, GNPC, said the facility was the first among 13 others to be commissioned, out of which eight were dotted in the Western Region.
He said GNPC was currently embarking on 175 development projects across the country and explained that the Bompeh facility was in fulfilment of a request made by the school to address its sanitation needs.
He said it was important such a facility was provided, since its absence affected learning, and in some cases students had to go home or outside the school to ease themselves.
Mr Eduah said GNPC was continually fulfilling its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) to help those who did not benefit directly from the oil extraction.
"That is why we are touching lives through these projects. We are making sure ordinary Ghanaians benefit from the oil resources," he added.
In a bid to support the government's educational vision, Mr Eduah stated that the Foundation was giving scholarships to 1,500 students and advised the students to make good use of the opportunities by applying and to also spread the message across to friends and families.
He appealed to the School authorities to maintain the facility, stressing that was the only way the Foundation would continue to assist the school with other projects and hinted that the Foundation had a monitoring and evaluation team in place to monitor projects that had been executed by the Foundation.
The Headteacher for the School, Mr Joseph Lawerh Boketey, thanked the GNPC for responding to their needs stressing that, it was important to dwell in a healthy and clean environment.
He pledged that the facility would be well maintained and appealed to the Foundation to consider putting up a well- equipped science block for the School.
The Metro Director for Education, Madam Elizabeth Akuako, expressed her gratitude to the Foundation for providing such an essential facility.
She noted that the presence of the facility would curtail the problem of students missing classes based on excuses such as going home to ease themselves and complaints of tummy arches.
Madam Akuako urged students to be good ambassadors by keeping the facility clean at all times to merit more projects from GNPC.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) for Sekondi -Takoradi, Mr. Anthony K. K. Sam for his part, said sanitation was of paramount importance to human existence and thanked GNPC for considering the School.
Touching on maintenance, he charged the students to make good use of the facility and keep it clean at all times as if it was their personal property.
He however pleaded with the school authorities to engage someone to be cleaning the place regularly to ensure that it was properly maintained.
The MCE Commended GNPC Foundation for the development projects being executed in the Region.