Rural School Sanitation

This project is part of the Simavi School Sanitation Programme which consists of more than 30 school sanitation projects in 9 countries. Simavi and its partner organisations have made efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality by preventing diseases. Access to safe drinking water as well as awareness raising on sanitation and hygiene practices have been identified as key to combating this. Investing in school sanitation and hygiene education is in essence an investment in the future.

Current status

Biaugu Primary school is a rural primary school with 421 students (288 boys and 133 girls) in the ages of 6 to 15 years and 6 teachers. The school doesn’t have any latrines or hand wash facilities at the moment. The students and teachers dash into the nearby bushes surrounding the school where they relieve themselves. No water supply is currently available in the school. The only dam in the community does not supply water throughout the year and so the children had to sometimes abandon school to travel to as far as six kilometres in search of water for themselves. Due to the distance, the children get tired and so are unable to continue their lessons. School pupils often fall sick and miss lessons for some days. This environment does not promote comfortable learning and teaching and therefore affect school performance. It also does not encourage the teachers to remain in school for long. The Catholic Relief Services at the moment provide school lunch to the pupils, but cannot immediately access enough water to ensure good hygiene before and after meals

A tubewell with handpump connected to a poly tank will be provided with three hand washing facilities. Pupils will be educated to wash their hands immediately after using the toilet facilities before proceeding to the class rooms. A six pit latrine will be constructed, one pit in each of the sectors will become operational immediately while the other remains as a reserve for future use. Radio will be used with school authorities and professional health workers to discuss and advice school children on the need to use the facility to their benefit. Social drama, quizzes and music sessions will be organised in the school to sensitise the school pupils about the need to put the facility to use in order to avoid diseases. The Ghana Health Services will give lessons on hygiene and sanitation for the school pupils, while they weekly visit the schools for basic medical check-up and advice. Simple prizes will be given to neat pupils to motivate them to keep themselves and their surroundings equally clean. A conference on sanitation will be held to inform policy makers about the existing requirements for school sanitation and to solicit their assistance.

Improving the health of school children through the improvement of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. A link with the local medical services will be created to improve overall health.

Besides providing an appropriate water source, hand washing facilities and toilet facilities Simli AiD will make use of radio programmes to engage school authorities and professional health workers on sanitation and to discuss and advice school children on the need to use the facility to their benefit. Social drama and music sessions will be organised in the school to sensitise the school pupils about the need to put the facility to use in order to avoid diseases. Quizzes on hygiene knowledge will equally be organised jointly by Simli AiD and the Ghana health services. Periodic stake holder meetings will be convened by Simli AiD to discuss issues relating to the benefits and otherwise of the facility. Stakeholders including school pupils, teachers, the chief, PTA/SMC, the Community based organisation and the assembly member of the area will all be reflected in such meetings. A conference on sanitation will be held to inform policy makers about the existing requirements for school sanitation and to solicit their assistance. The Parent Teacher Association /School Management Committee's will in collaboration with the school authorities take ownership of the latrines to ensure sustained management. The latrines should exist and function well for not less than 10 years.