Damongo, (N/R), March 29, GNA - The Damongo Secondary School has no modern toilet facilities compelling the 744 boys to defecate indiscriminately in the bush, Mr. Charles K. Nyabu, the Headmaster of the school, said at Damongo.

He said a five-pan latrine, which was used by the then Middle Boarding School before 1971 had become a death trap and the students have no other alternative than to stray to the bush to defecate. Mr Nyabu was speaking at the 40th anniversary speech and prize giving day of the Damongo Secondary School at Damongo in the West Gonja District on Saturday which was on the theme: "Discipline, a tool for academic excellence".

He said the school was faced with water problems resulting in students travelling beyond the school boundaries looking for water and this was creating discipline problems for the school authorities. He said attempts at drilling boreholes in the campus had failed and suggested the drilling of boreholes outside the campus to solve the problem.

Mr Nyabu appealed to the government to provide the school with a water tanker and called for the re-wiring of the school to improve on the lighting systems and to avert any fire outbreak.

He appealed to the government to give the school a 60-seater bus to support the rickety wooden truck and the old Science Resource Centre bus, which frequently break down to cope up with the expected increase in student population from 1002 to 1,300 next year.

He also appealed to the government to provide more computers to the school to make the students computer literates since the 34 computers that were being used were inadequate.

Mr Nyabu said the performance of the students in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) from 1996 to 2005 was discouraging. He attributed inadequate accommodation to attract qualified teachers, poor lighting, scarcity of water, low level of discipline and commitment to work, and community interference in disciplinary actions as some of the factors that led to the abysmal performance of students of the school.

He said students' performance would step up if the problem of discipline was tackled and the teachers given incentive to motivate them to put in their best.

Mr Nyabu commended the government for selecting the Damongo Secondary School for upgrading and making it one of the first 31 schools undergoing upgrading in the country.

He said two storey boys and girls dormitories were being built, a science laboratory, a new administration block, a new library, two new bungalows, a three-storey six-unit flat for teachers and a two-storey 12-unit classroom block were under construction.

Rehabilitation works were also going on in 13 staff bungalows and quarters while a five-unit classroom block, an assembly hall and an old store block as well as computer laboratory were being undertaken. The Headmaster said the upgrading of infrastructure in the school would increase the student population from 1,002 to 1,300 next year and also help to attract the recruitment of qualified teachers to enhance teaching and learning.

Mr Nyabu commended authorities of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for making the school one of the beneficiary of its deprived schools scheme.

Alhaji Mustapha Idris Ali, GETFUND Board Chairman, promised to carry the concerns of the school to the appropriate authorities for support. He suggested to the school authorities to identify a high yielding borehole in the town for it to be mechanised.

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, appealed to northerners who had received higher education to return home and teach.