The Yilo Krobo Education Directorate says the continuous power outage in Yilo Krobo Municipality poses a security threat to the schools in the area.
According to the directorate, the security of many boarding Senior High Schools is under threat due to the total darkness experienced at night.
The Public Relations Officer of the Yilo Krobo Education Directorate, Solomon Sackitey says the cost of powering generators in the schools has not been sustainable, a situation which is affecting the finances of the institutions.
“One of our senior high schools, Yilo Krobo Senior High School is in Somanya proper where for the past one week, we have not had light, and having thousands of students on campus without electricity, it's difficult to guarantee the security of the student. Someone can sneak in and anything can happen so that is the fear. But for now, we have not had any security breaking. We just hope that the light comes very early so that we’ll all be at peace. The second issue we have is how to preserve their food items, the perishable food items especially. And I spoke to the headmaster of the school and he told me that every day they send over GHc250 to power their plants in order to preserve their food items. There are meat, fish, tomatoes and other perishable food” he said.
He further raised concerns about the impact of the situation on the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
“WASSCE has started, and the children cannot go on prep. So when school closes by 3 pm or latest by 4 pm, that is it in the evening, they cannot go for prep. Those who are able to go, those who have their flashlight, and those who are also not good for their sight. We are calling on the Municipal Assembly to come to the aid of the school. For now, they have something that is keeping them going. But as I said, we do not know for how long this matter will continue. We have not even gone to the Municipal Assembly to present a proposal for help because for now, the school is able to keep going even though they have withdrawn some of its services. For instance, prep because they are unable to power the plant throughout the time or even throughout the period of the prep” he added.
The ECG has disconnected the electricity power supply to residents of Somanya, including the Yilo Krobo municipality for about a week as punishment for people who fail to pay light bills. This has left residents within the municipality in darkness.