Millions of children may return to a school with nowhere to wash their hands
Children returning to school this September may find a very different classroom to the ones they left, with socially distanced desks and a renewed focus on handwashing. But in thousands of schools around the world, even this most basic defence against Covid-19 will be out of reach for millions of students and their teachers.
New figures released today by the World Health Organization and Unicef show the staggeringly slow progress we are making towards all children having clean water, decent toilets and somewhere to wash their hands at their school.
43% of schools globally have nowhere for their pupils to wash their hands with soap and water. In sub-Saharan Africa, where a million Covid-19 cases have now been reported (likely to be a serious underestimate) and thousands have lost their lives, this figure rises to nearly three quarters of schools (74%) that lack soap and water for handwashing.
WHO and Unicef further highlight that in the 60 countries identified as having the highest risk of health and humanitarian crisis due to Covid-19, 3 out of 4 lacked basic handwashing services at the start of the pandemic. In the face of Covid-19, hand hygiene has never been more important as a crucial defence, but millions of the world’s most vulnerable pupils and teachers are being let down and their education is at risk.
For young people without clean water, decent toilets and handwashing facilities (WASH) in their schools, it’s normal for them to miss their lessons to walk long distances to collect water or use bushes on the school ground to go to the loo in the open. Girls often miss school days or drop out of education entirely because they are on their period and have no safe, private and hygienic facilities to manage them. Globally, 31% of schools also lack clean water on site and 37% of schools do not have a basic toilet for their pupils to use.
Jean-Bosco Twizeyimana, is a student at Group Scholaire Kibungo in Bugesera in Eastern Rwanda. The school has a very basic water harvesting system, but it’s not enough to meet the needs of all the pupils.
“There's no water to wash hands after using the toilet, so we don't wash them before coming out of class. At home, we don't wash our hands, the problem is we don't have the water.”
As Covid-19 spread around the world, schools closed to prevent the spread of the virus. Whilst many pupils have had access to some level of digital learning, a whole generation of children in developing countries risk being left further behind. The poverty gap may continue to widen between children who are able to continue to access education and those who cannot.
Schools are also vital for teaching and embedding good hygiene practices which pupils can take back to their families to help keep them healthy as well, ensuring long-lasting protection against future outbreaks. WaterAid is calling for governments to make hygiene, water and toilets in schools a top priority now and for post Covid-19 and to make funding available to get proper handwashing facilities in all schools.
Too many schools are still built with no clean water or toilets which means they cannot provide a safe or good quality education. Donors and development agencies must commit to stopping this dangerous practice so that pupils do not have to worry everyday about where they will get a drink or go to the toilet.
Ada OkoWilliams, Senior WASH Manager – Sanitation, WaterAid, said:
“Education is essential for escaping poverty, but schools without water, toilets and hygiene threaten the health and learning opportunities for millions of children, especially girls. Pupils should not have to choose between staying healthy and getting an education.
“Progress towards ensuring every school has the water, toilets and soap they need to help pupils stay safe is achingly slow and Covid-19 must act as a catalyst to ensure these basic services are prioritized. We want to see governments make money available to get soap and clean water into every school to protect pupils, teachers and their entire communities.”
ENDS
WHO/Unicef Joint Monitoring Programme – WASH in Schools Data can be found here.
Headline findings:
- Globally, 31% of schools do not have a basic water service.
- In sub-Saharan Africa, 56% of schools do not have a basic water service.
- Globally, 37% of schools do not have a decent toilet.
- In sub-Saharan Africa, 53% of schools do not have a decent toilet.
- Globally, 43% of schools do not have soap and water for handwashing.
- In sub-Saharan Africa, 74% of schools do not have soap and water for handwashing.
For more information, please contact:
Emily Pritchard, Global News Manager, [email protected]
Or call our after-hours press line on +44 (0)7887 521 552 or email [email protected]
WaterAid
WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 26.4 million people with clean water and 26.3 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/uk, follow @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or find WaterAid UK on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.
- 785 million people in the world – one in ten – do not have clean water close to home.[1]
- 2 billion people in the world – almost one in four – do not have a decent toilet of their own.[2]
- Around 310,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.[3]
- Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.[4]
- Just £15 can provide one person with clean water.[5]
[1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines
[2] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines
[3] Prüss-Ustün et al. (2014) and The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2018)
[4] World Health organization (2012) Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage
[5] www.wateraid.org
