Raising Clean Hands 2010 - Advancing Learning, Health and Participation Through WASH in Schools
Raising Clean Hands 2010 - Advancing Learning, Health and Participation Through WASH in Schools
Raising Clean Hands 2010 - Advancing Learning, Health and Participation Through WASH in Schools
© UNICEF/NYHQ2002-0307/Pirozzi
CARE • Dubai Cares • Emory University Center for Global Safe Water
IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre • Save the Children
UNICEF • Water Advocates • WaterAid • Water For People • WHO
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to all the WASH in Schools partners who participated
in the development and publication of Raising Clean Hands: Advancing
Learning, Health and Participation through WASH in Schools.
Fulfilling every child’s right to water, sanita- can be well applied to sustaining WASH in
tion and hygiene education remains a major Schools programmes that improve health,
challenge for policymakers, school adminis- foster learning and enable children to partic-
trators and communities in many countries. ipate as agents of change for their siblings,
In a group of surveyed developing coun- their parents and the community at large.
tries, less than half of primary schools have
access to safe water and just over a third As citizens, parents, policymakers and
have adequate sanitation. Lack of coverage government representatives, we all have
data for WASH in Schools is one barrier to a role in making sure that every child
securing the rights of children. Of the 60 receives the benefits of WASH in Schools:
developing countries surveyed, only 33 • Clean water for drinking and washing.
provided data on access to water in primary
schools and 25 have data on sanitation.1 • D
ignity and safety through ample
toilets and washstands, separated for
Great strides have been made, nonethe- girls and boys.
less, to safeguard the well-being of children
in schools. Millions of schoolchildren now • Education for good hygiene.
have access to drinking water, sanitation
• H
ealthy school environments through
facilities and hygiene education. And the
safe waste disposal.
experience gained over the past decade
Access
100
to WASH in Schools Remains a Challenge
80
60
Percentage
40
46%
20
37%
0
Water facilities Sanitation facilities
© UNICEF/PAKA2008-0798/Noorani
Through the School Health Clubs of Port Loko District, for example, children are encouraging their families
to build latrines and end open defecation.
As explained by Fatmata, age 12, “We learn about good hygiene through games and sports … but we also
have a serious responsibility – we pass these messages on to our families and friends.” Since Fatmata’s father
died, life for her family has been tough. With nine children to support, her mother had little money to spend
on perceived luxuries such as sanitation, and the entire family had to use the surrounding bushes as a latrine.
“I used to be so afraid of going to the toilet, especially because of the snakes,” said Fatmata. But the
introduction of School-Led Total Sanitation, a new community-based approach to eliminating open defecation,
prompted her mother to take action. With help from neighbours, she built a latrine using local materials, and
the family uses it on a daily basis. Through the dedication of School Health Club members and their teachers,
the majority of families in the surrounding villages now have access to a latrine.
• A
study in Kenya revealed that less than
2 per cent of children in schools washed
their hands with soap, which was avail-
able in less than 5 per cent of facilities.16
• A
n evaluation conducted in India
showed that hand washing before eat-
ing in school was far more frequent
in districts with WASH in Schools pro-
grammes than in control districts. But
soap was used by only 2 per cent or less © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1244/Pirozzi
of children when washing their hands,
severely cutting its effectiveness.17
WASH in Schools receives
•T
he evaluation of School Sanitation and support in India, from students
Hygiene Education pilot programmes in
to a Minister of Education
six countries – Burkina Faso, Colombia,
Nepal, Nicaragua, Viet Nam and Zambia In Rajasthan, India, the state government and
– revealed that the availability of soap UNICEF have pooled resources to turn hand
was a major problem in most of the washing into a people’s campaign to enhance
schools. Reasons include high costs and awareness and change behaviour as a
the fear that it will be stolen. The lack of sustainable practice. For Global Handwashing
soap was jeopardizing the educational Day 2009, members of the school cabinet
demonstrated Saf Hathon Ka Jadoo, ‘the
effort to promote use and resulted in a
magic of clean hands’, by explaining that
low proportion of students washing their ‘clean hands’ means washing with soap.
hands with soap.18
The schoolchildren appealed to Education
Where schools are having trouble Minister Master Bhanwarlal Meghwal to make
keeping soap on hand, school a regular provision of soap in the school. The
administrators have provided creative Minister warmly responded to the children’s
solutions, such as liquid soap, soap bars requests and reminded officials present to
attached to a rope and washcloth, and streamline the process of procuring funds for
Tippy Taps, large containers of soapy the School Development and Management
water that dispense just enough liquid for Committee. He also requested that the
a single proper hand washing. In other sarpanch (village head) and the community
ensure availability of soap in every school.
cases, WASH in Schools has generated
material support from national ministry Source: UNICEF India, ‘Rajasthan Pledges To
and local government budget allocations, Save Lives by Washing Hands’, Jaipur, Rajasthan,
in addition to contributions from India, 2 November 2009, www.unicef.org/india/
wes_5906.htm2.
local communities.
Improved Hygiene
Less Disease
Economic Growth
Increased Performance
Increased Attendance
© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1125/Nesbitt
WASH must be sustained in schools interventions are applied at the point of use, such
during emergencies as schools and households, and combined with
improved water handling and storage.
During emergencies, schools are often the
place where displaced people seek shelter. In Cambodia, a study of ceramic-filter
Although it is essential that schools are able use showed the filters removed bacteria
to provide safe havens for communities, contaminants effectively for at least three to
this can both displace children from their four years. Costing less than $10 each, these
education and overload/damage WASH easy-to-use filters can be built and installed
facilities. Preparedness measures, including using locally available materials. The filters
installation and repair of permanent school are introduced in schools, using catchy music
facilities, need to be accompanied by plans videos and puppet shows to teach good
to provide additional, temporary WASH hygiene practices.
facilities in schools so a surge of population
can be accommodated for the crisis period. Schoolteachers act as distributors, selling the
Subsequently, repairs must be made once filters in their communities and earning extra
populations have left. Temporary learning income. Michael Sampson, founder of the
spaces in camps or other locations outside non-profit organization Resource Development
of schools also need to be supported with International, explained that “filter ownership
temporary WASH facilities. empowers the Cambodians to solve their
own problems – helping themselves and
building their self-esteem.” More than 100,000
Point-of-use water treatment reaches Cambodian households now use the filters.
communities through schools Sources: UNICEF Handbook on Water Quality, New
An increasing body of evidence shows that water York, 2008; and www.america.gov, ‘Ceramic Filters for
quality interventions have a greater impact on Drinking Water Improving Health in Cambodia’, U.S.
reducing sickness and death from diarrhoea Department of State, Washington, DC, 21 October 2008.
than previously thought, particularly when
Based on this success, School-Led Total The students also take charge of
Sanitation was incorporated in the 2009 Nepal Jum’at Bersih (Clean Friday), a national
Sanitation Master Plan, and the Government movement that began in 1994 and
is replicating the programme in all 75 districts. encourages hygiene promotion,
Countries including Pakistan and Sierra Leone particularly hand washing with soap,
have also adopted this approach.36 during meetings on Islam’s holy day.
60
47
40
20
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1128/Nesbitt
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This Call to Action for WASH in Schools puts forward a six-point plan towards providing each and every
schoolchild with access to quality water, child-friendly sanitation and hygiene facilities, and hygiene education
for lifelong health.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2002-0307/Pirozzi
Lack of reliable data is a major constraint for the advocacy and planning efforts of WASH in Schools
programmes. Water and sanitation facilities and skills-based hygiene promotion activities are not
effectively monitored at the global or national level. The data that are available show that:
• If the Millennium Development Goals for water • A girl can miss up to 10 per cent of her school
and sanitation are reached, it is estimated that days during menstruation, a loss that could be
absenteeism in schools would be reduced by averted through WASH in Schools programming.
272 million school days per year.
• Only 27 out of 60 developing countries surveyed
• Fewer than half of primary schools have adequate have a national plan of action that provides space
water facilities, and nearly two thirds lack adequate for WASH in Schools.
sanitation facilities in a survey conducted among
60 developing countries where data are available.