Importance of School Sanitation

Going to school in a clean and healthy school environment is every child's right. Many children in developing countries, however, do not have access to safe and clean sanitation facilities on school. Schools too often suffer from non-existent or insufficient sanitation and hand-washing facilities. Schools are not safe for children due to neglect of the operation and maintenance of facilities. Latrines are not always adapted to the needs of children, in particular, girls. Schools cope with broken, dirty, unsafe and even lack of sanitation and hand washing facilities. Latrines are padlocked because children are not trusted to use them properly.

In such circumstances, schools become unhealthy places where diseases are transmitted easily. Poor health of children affects their ability to learn and therefore influences their prospects in life. It is clear that in broader terms poor sanitation in school buildings impairs children's growth and development, limits school attendance and negatively affects students' ability to concentrate and learn. About 40% of the world's 400 million school-age children are infested with intestinal worms. A study by Nokes et al (1993) shows that children with worm infections have higher absenteeism than non-infected children.

When reaching puberty children become aware of their physical changes. This creates the need for gender related privacy in toilets. This is especially evident for girls who are menstruating. About 1 in 10 school-age African girls do not attend school during menstruation or even drop out at puberty because of the lack of clean and private sanitation facilities in schools. Sexual harassment in school toilets is also quite common, particularly when toilets are isolated and far from the social control of the school.

Improvement of good school sanitation: