The Unilever Ghana Foundation (UGF) has presented ten Hygiene Stations to some schools within the Tema, Ashaiman and Kpone Katamanso areas in their bid to increase access to hygienic places of convenience for school children.

The donation, which is in partnership with Global Communities and USAID, is also a means of Unilever Ghana adding its voice to the call to make Ghana and the world a clean place through the provision of clean water and hygienic means of convenience for children.

In an address during the presentation on Wednesday at the St. Augustine Basic School, Ashaiman, a Trustee and Representative of UGF, Mr. Joel Nettey, informed that “the Trustees of UGF took a bold decision to finance the construction of 10 new Hygiene Stations in selected public basic schools within the Tema Metropolis, Ashaiman Municipality and the Kpone Katamanso District.”

Mr. Nettey praised the fruits of that decision, saying, “I am delighted to know that through this initiative, well over 5,000 basic school children and their teachers, within the catchment areas mentioned above can access decent places of convenience within their school premises.”

He observed that the children could use a place of convenience with the school premises without being exposed to the dangers associated in “straying out of sight of their supervisors with all the attendant problems.”

Mr. Nettey observed that in as much as they hoped the facility would help as a place of convenience for the pupils, “It is our hope as well that they would ensure the behavioral change training for the users of the facilities.”

He prayed that the facilities would be put to good use and properly maintained so they could last longer.

The Country Director of Global Communities, Mr. Alberto Wilde, observed that Ghana and the rest of the world were committed to improving sanitation through Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number six.

Mr. Wilde said, improving sanitation in Ghana was a must and that the Government of Ghana was committed, through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water “to declare Ghana open defecation free by 2030, and we are adding these facilities to help attain that goal.”

The Ashaiman Municipal Director of Education, Rev. Mrs. Joyce Orleans Madjitey, receiving the facilities, informed that the Hygiene Station concept sought to promote the culture of regular hand washing among children.

She observed the upward enrolment of pupils of the St. Augustine, for example, and believed that the gesture would ease congestion at the washrooms of the schools and therefore was much grateful.

The Administrator of the UGF, Mr. Henry Herbert Malm, in a welcome address, said, the donation was an opportunity for Unilever Ghana to assure its partners and the communities in which they operated that they were always at the centre of everything Unilever did.

“It is the reason why we always try to identify their needs and to work hard to address them. Unilever is committed to improving the health and hygiene needs of one billion people across the globe and also to reduce the environmental impact of making and using of the products,” Mr. Malm informed.

The schools that benefited from the Hygiene Stations included AME Zion Bethel JHS, St. Augustine’s Primary, and SDA Primary Schools in Ashaiman.

The rest were the Manhean Anglican Primary A, B and C, Sakumono Holy Child R/C Basic and Kotobabi TMA JHS all in the Tema Metropolis, and Kpone Presby Basic A and B in Kpone Katamanso.