Child Rights International (CRI) has revealed that 19,743 children from kindergarten to junior high school have been forced to abandon their education due to the Akosombo Dam spillage.
Additionally, more than 9,000 of these children were unable to retrieve their educational materials including uniforms, bags, books, shoes, and textbooks.
The organization has warned that it could take more than three months for the state to officially send these children back to school.
During a media briefing on Tuesday, October 31, the Executive Director of CRI, Bright Kweku Appiah, disclosed that 71 educational institutions have been affected.
CRI has been carrying out remediation exercises to supply the affected children with books and other school materials to replace what was lost in the floods.
Mr. Appiah called on the Ghana Education Service to develop and implement an Education Recovery Plan (ERP) to expedite the reintegration of affected children back into school.
According to Mr. Appiah, over 90% of the children in safe havens suffer from one ailment or the other, with malaria, skin diseases, and headaches being the top three reported diseases.
The organization noted reports of psychological issues among children, with over 95% of them reporting anxiety and sadness.
“About 20% of children showed signs of dissociation refusing to acknowledge the disaster and any impact it may or may not have had on them.”
“This group claimed that nothing had changed in their lives and things were just fine. Within safe havens, there is a reported lack of designated health centers with over 90% of children expressing concern over the unavailability of such facilities. These children have expressed the desire for such centers to be made available in havens to attend to their needs,” he stated.
Mr. Appiah also noted that safe havens lack designated health centers, with over 90% of children expressing concern over the unavailability of such facilities.
These children have expressed the desire for such centers to be made available to attend to their needs.
He explained that the children have generally communicated feeling safe within the safe havens when engaged on issues of sexual abuse or harassment.
0.62% of children, he said, have reported instances of physical sexual abuse, and 1% reported verbal sexual abuse about 20% of children have expressed displeasure over sleeping arrangements in some safe havens that allowed rooms to be occupied by both males and females.
“80% of girls reported feeling uncomfortable having to dress up in the presence of the boys and expressed a lack of privacy in those circumstances. 25% of children also reported overcrowding in rooms with reports of some children being forced to sleep on outside corridors due to the lack of space.”
“Over 3,200 adolescent girls representing about 18.6% of the total number of children affected by this disaster have reported the lack of access to personal hygiene products such as sanitary towels forcing them to resort to the use of unhygienic materials.”
Mr. Appiah assured that CRI will do its best to contribute its quota to support children affected by the disaster and appealed to organizations, CSOs, government agencies and well-meaning Ghanaians to join in providing support for those affected to relieve them of their suffering.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) discharged water from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams to regulate water levels in the dams, resulting in extensive flooding.
Communities across North, South, and Central Tongu in the Volta Region and Shai Osudoku, Ada East, and Asuogyaman Districts in the Eastern Region have experienced huge devastation.
The flooding has resulted in significant property damage on a considerable scale and at the same time disrupted the socioeconomic activities of the affected communities.
It has also led to a large-scale displacement of individuals, compelling them to seek shelter within school buildings, the homes of relatives, and other public structures.
