Sanitation and Hygiene in Primary Schools in Uganda

Child Health and Development Centre, Makerere University (2006)

Abstract

The introduction of Universal Primary Education resulted in a rapid increase in the number of children in the primary schools from 5.3 million in 1997 to 7.3 million in 2002. This trend continued in subsequent years, straining hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools. A total of 416 schools, 334 primary, and 82 secondary from 20 districts in five regions of the country were visited during a school sanitation and hygiene study. Almost all were day schools (95%), two thirds were rural while 80% were government-aided schools.

Almost all schools did not meet the minimum sanitation and hygiene school standards. Government efforts have focused on construction of toilet facilities in government-aided schools only through the School Facilitation Grant (SFG), UPE funds and Local Government Development Programme (LGDP). As such, emphasis has been on facility development with less focus on changing practices in sanitation and hygiene in schools. Functional sanitation facilities were mostly pit latrines in rural schools and VIP latrines in urban schools. Water closet and newer technologies such as ECOSAN and Mobilets were being explored for economising on space and addressing poor soil textures.

Although there has been a steady improvement in pupil: stance ratio from 150:1 (1997) to 60:1 (2004), the average pupil-stance ratio for primary schools was still much higher than set standard (40:1). Only 72% provided separate facilities for boys and girls. Physical discomfort and pain was reported to be the main hindrance for girls to attend school during menstruation as well as lack of sanitary materials for 1 in 10 girls. Lack of privacy (16%), fear of soiling toilets (31%), and poor toilet hygiene (51%) greatly contributed to discomfort of girls using toilet facilities during their menses.

Close to 80% did not allocate separate toilet facility for specific classes; the very young shared facilities with older pupils. In a third of primary (37%) and a higher proportion (52%) of secondary schools, teachers shared facilities with pupils/students. Floors in most primary schools (80%) and secondary schools (79%) were wet and dirty while walls were smeared with faeces in 1/3 primary and 1/4 secondary schools visited. Toilet surroundings were littered with faeces/urine in 2/5 primary and 1/5 of secondary schools. Toilet facilities were within standard distance from classrooms but poor hygiene led to pupils complaining of close proximity to classrooms. Almost 1 in 6 of primary school toilet facilities had no doors and two thirds (64%) of those with doors could not lock from inside. Anal cleansing materials were present in only a quarter (23%) of primary schools. Urinals for boys were present in 84% of primary schools and 77% of secondary schools. Only a quarter of schools with disabled children reported to offer separate toilet facilities for these children.

Hand washing facilities were present in about four in ten primary schools (39%), thus schools failed to provide an enabling environment to students for hand washing. Less than 1 in 5 primary schools met recommended standard of 5 litres per day per pupil in day schools and 25 litres per pupil per day in boarding schools.

Sanitation has not been taken as a priority; as a result some schools have failed to take sanitation and hygiene seriously. Construction costs were high, with a 5-stance VIP costing between 4-6 million Uganda shillings, a formidable barrier to scaling up sanitation improvement in schools. A multi-sectoral approach and collaboration, policies and guidelines should be actively translated into real action and backed by resources for their implementation so as to improve the sanitation and hygiene situation in schools.

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