Fatou SARR, Jàngandoo Barometer Management Officer at the Research Laboratory on Economic and Social Transformations, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar.
[/av_heading] [/av_one_full][av_image src=’http://palnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Dakar-2.jpg’ attachment=’12948′ attachment_size=’full’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”] Both adults and children have the right to adequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene. However, in West Africa, hygiene and sanitation deficits remain significant and are linked to the lack of adequate sanitation infrastructure. Thus, there is a considerable gap in health infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, resulting in many human health and environmental concerns.
These gaps in access to water, hygiene and sanitation are even more pronounced in the school environment. Indeed, according to the Jàngandoo 2014 study in Senegal, only half of the schools visited in the country have toilets for teachers; seven out of 10 of these schools do not have separate toilets for men and women. Similarly, there are no toilets for pupils in three out of five schools visited, almost half of which do not have separate toilets for boys and girls. We can note the shortage for water supply as only one learning place out of five has such facilities.
In addition, the Jàngandoo results reveal important connections between physical conditions in learning environments and children’s performance: The regions where school infrastructure is better, such as Dakar and Ziguinchor, had the best results. Similarly, it is noted that children living in urban areas have obtained the best success rates considering that schools in urban areas have better sanitary conditions and access to drinking water. In 2016 the Jàngandoo evaluation results showed that there are still places of learning that do not have sanitary facilities: 3.1% in French public schools or 17.4% in Franco-Arab private schools. This figure is even higher when it is a daara (30.5%). It is also noted that nearly 12% of children in French schools report not using school toilets. The reasons given by the children for this abstention are often the lack of hygiene or the absence of water in the toilets.
The lack of proper facilities, including clean water and appropriate toilets for students, is a major obstacle to school attendance, especially for girls. Hygiene practices are inadequate. As a result of this situation:
- frequent absences of students from class due to water-related illnesses and menses;
- girls dropping out of school at a certain age due to a lack of adequate toilets.
Washrooms in educational settings rarely have facilities that allow women to be comfortable in managing their menstruation. While access to water, sanitation and hygiene in schools is included in the Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030, the majority do not have an adequate sanitation system, exposing children to many pathogenic organisms. In addition, many learning places have inadequate facilities and that results in practices such as open defecation and increased vulnerability of children to unsafe sanitation. The living environment resulting from these many constraints has serious consequences on students’ health and school performance.
It is often noted that poor sanitation in Africa is largely due to the unsociable behavior of populations (open defecation, garbage disposal in public spaces, etc.). However, it should be noted that unhealthy practices only reflect on the health infrastructure gap and the lack of alternatives.
As a learning environment by excellence, the school should also serve as a place for raising awareness and the use of water and sanitation infrastructures as well as promoting changes in hygiene behavior in family and community environments.
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