Introduction to School Sanitation & Hygiene Education
Learning Objective
- Understand the objectives of a School Sanitation & Hygiene Education Programme.
- Relate the importance of School Sanitation & Hygiene Education to the Maldives.
- Be familiar with the health implications of common issues of sanitation, water supplies and hygiene behaviors in schools.
Materials
Overhead Slide 1 –Introduction to SSHE
Handout 1- Guidelines to School Sanitation and Hygiene
School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Situation Analysis 2002
Cards (3) – Identified Health Concerns (need to be prepared in advance)
Time –1 to 1.5 hours
Content and Process
Introduction
Using Overhead Slide 1 introduce the objectives of a School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Programme and stress the need to focus on it.
Distribute Handout 1.
Objective of a School Sanitation and Hygiene Programme
To provide a healthy school environment whereby -
- Facilities block rather than spread water and sanitation related diseases
- Children learn and practice the safe hygiene behaviors that they will use for the rest of their lives
Why focus on School Sanitation and Hygiene Education?
It is an important component of any
School Health Programme.
Guidelines to a School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Program (SSHE)
What is School Sanitation and Hygiene Education?
School sanitation and hygiene refers to the combination of hardware and software components that are necessary to produce a healthy school environment and to develop or support safe hygiene behaviors. The hardware components include drinking water, hand washing and sanitary facilities in and around the school compound. The software components are activities that promote conditions at school and practices of school staff that help to prevent water and sanitation-related diseases and parasites such as worms (UNICEF and IRC 1998).
Why focus on School Sanitation and Hygiene Education?
In a recent situation analysis conducted by MWSA and School Health of Male and the atolls it showed that school facilities may need improving. In some instances they -
- Have no, or insufficient water supply, sanitation and hand washing facilities. It showed only 32% of island schools have adequate rainwater storage capacity for the year and 30% do not have hand-washing facilities.
- Facilities weren’t adapted to the needs of children, broken, dirty or unsafe.
- Hygiene education is ineffective and doesn’t relate to their environment and soap was not present in the majority of schools.
Under these conditions schools become unsafe places where diseases are transmitted with mutually reinforcing negative impacts for the children, their families and overall development. Good health at school is essential for now and an investment for the future.
The provision of safe water and sanitation facilities is a first step towards a healthy physical learning environment. However the mere provision of facilities does not make them sustainable or ensure the desired impact.
It is the use of the facilities – the related behaviors of all people that provide health benefits. The combination of facilities, correct behavioral practices and education are meant to have a positive impact on the health and hygiene of the community as a whole, both now and in the future.
What are the objectives of a SSHE program?
1. Creating a healthy and safe learning environment,
A healthy learning environment combines all three
- Safe sanitation, water supply and hand washing facilities
- Hygienic use by everyone – children and staff – always.
- Sound management to keep the facilities in proper working and hygienic conditions.
2. Helping children to develop life skills (that is, skills to cope with life) including hygiene and health. Better hygiene practices don’t develop just by learning about water and sanitation related diseases; they also cannot be imposed through discipline alone. New approaches need to be used to assess and improve their practices in an active way.
3. Stimulate outreach to and benefits for family and community,
Outreach is important to ensure that children not only have a healthy school environment, but that home and community environments improve at the same time. By including activities whereby by school children do certain activities (such as investigations) as homework in their home or community, teachers and family health workers have linked SSHE with wider outreach activities without adding extra burdens to their school programs.
What are the indicators of a successful program?
To be successful school sanitation and hygiene education must address a combination of hardware and software issues. Only in combination can the two conditions for better health of school children be met:
Availability of good facilities
Adoption of healthy practices
The focus should therefore be on both effective education and effective facilities.
Distribute the School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Situation Analysis 2002. Ask the participants to spend 15 minutes reading and thinking about the material.
Lead a short discussion using the following questions to enable participants to share their comments and experiences in their own schools.
- Do any of these findings reflect the situation in your own schools?
- What do they think the most important issue is in their own schools?
- Can any of these issues can be resolved at the school and community level?
Group Work and Discussion – Health Concern Cards
Working in three groups distribute a card to each group with one of the three “Identified Health Concerns” from the situation analysis. Ask the groups to spend 10 minutes discussing the concern drawing on their own experiences as well as the findings and identify solutions and the problems that may occur.
Ask each group to briefly share their discussion with the whole group by
-Introducing the concern and its negative impact,
-Explain its relevance using their own experiences and the findings of the situation analysis,
-Suggest solutions and any problems they might for see.
Health ConcernsCards
Module 1