posted on 2018-02-12, 15:07authored byPeter Harvey, Edwin Adenya
Access to sanitation in primary schools in Zambia is woefully inadequate, especially in community
schools. Through analysis of national Ministry of Education data and a survey of schools in 16 districts
an assessment of sanitation and hygiene in primary schools was undertaken. This revealed that while
almost all schools have some type of sanitation facility, just over one third have permanent toilets and
less than 10% of schools provide adequate numbers of toilets for girls. While lack of sanitation facilities
may play a role in discouraging the attendance and retention of girl students no correlation was found
between pupiltoilet
ratios and school retention rates. However, for schools with unimproved traditional
latrines retention rates were significantly lower than for those with improved sanitation facilities,
especially for girls. While hygiene education programmes were present in most of the sample schools,
only 45% of schools had soap for handwashing and the impact on hygiene behaviour in the school
catchment areas appeared to be limited. There is a strong need to incorporate sanitation in the Ministry
of Education’s infrastructure development plans.
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Research Unit
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Published in
WEDC Conference
Citation
HARVEY, P. and ADENYA, E., 2009. An assessment of sanitation and hygiene in primary schools in Zambia. IN: Shaw, R.J. (ed). Water, sanitation and hygiene - Sustainable development and multisectoral approaches: Proceedings of the 34th WEDC International Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18-22 May 2009, 8p.p.
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