Dear Wangi,

We have developed different Group Hand Washing Stations with pipe water supply and with placing static tank, usually filled by cook cum helper MID-DAY-MEAL in schools. ODISHA, INDIA. I can share with you all photos too.
Er M S Khan

Amodel handwashing station for pupils in schools has to overcome all challenges faced earlier. these are: poor visibility, lack of water/ refilling frequently, lack of soap stand and lack of multiple outlets.

It is an interesting question that John is asking here - and I find it even more interesting that the first reaction is to start from a "standard" number.

I would try to approach it the other way around: How many students do you have in your school and what do you want to achieve with the handwashing station?
If you need taps for handwashing after toilet use, you can install one tap per toilet to make sure the max number of users can wash their hands simultaneously once they´re done.

However, if you plan for more and want the children to wash their hands at certain times, especially before lunch for example, then you need more. And rather than sticking to a certain number per station I would start with calculating from a logistics point of view. If you don´t have enough water outlets to cover 50% of students at the same time for a group handwashing activity or peak times during break before lunch, then it will simply take too much time from the schoolday/breaktime for it to be feasible in terms of covering all students and not losing too much time. If 100% of students can wash their hands in max 2 rounds within 10-15 min, there is a much better chance that it will happen and that it will continue to happen.

So ultimately the number depends on the number of students I would say. In terms of facility models - there are many out there. Many standard group washing facilities indeed cater to 15-25 students at a time, but there are also varieties of facilities that can cover way more or less. It´s a form follows function (and available materials) kind of approach, I´d say.

Hi Daniel,

Your statement is quite interesting because it reflects a important issue of making decisions in schools in a context of limited resources, and as you clearly show us WASH is not the most urgent need in your case.

If you happen to visit schools located in arid and sub arid area you will be much surprised to see even clean water for consumption is problem leave alone water for washing hands to promote hygiene. There are several primary schools which even classroom is problem they school under tree without trained teacher.

However, I still think that installing a tippy tap is a no regret measure!
- it is costless: a recycled bottle and a rope, so it does take the resources for other actions
- it is possible to do it at "tree level" so it is something the teacher and student can do by themselves (like the girls building brick toilets with Peter Morgan if I remember well), can be proud of and which will have an immediate impact.
- it is a learning experience with small scale planning and maintenance and even can be used as a learning tool (in maths, science, biology/hygiene).

In the end, I would conclude that encouraging a school under a tree to install "low cost hand washing stations", is an initiative that is more empowering than it seems. Stakeholders need to act at their own level. There isn't much that pupils can do under the tree to improve teacher's training but there is much they can do to improve their health and well being.
Cecile

We totally agree with Michael about the need of touchless hand washing. Many children touching a tap contribute to the spreading of bacteria. There are some solutions already available which are waiting for wide implementation. We currently make efforts to implement one of them. Wish us good luck. S-teemer team.

As designers/manufacturers of handwash/water dispensers, we strongly believe that any system for water provision related to sanitation in schools, camps or new communities should prioritise non-manual activation of the water flow i.e. foot operated. If you can't guarantee training of washing hands 'before and after'you risk creating a serious point of contagion at the critical manual supply/recipient interface.But aid agencies generally persist in purveying primitive pipe/tap row solutions and local operators look to that as a satisfactory model/template. It isn't.
That is what our research showed and that is why we make all our models foot based... have not shown any for want of appearing to be advertising!

This is tricky in Water and Sanitation Development facility (WSDF North) Uganda we try to apply a ratio of 1 sink for 200 users but I have found it wanting mainly at peak hours.
Also, Another issue is about actual height of sinks currently we have put it between 50-70cm though its still not tested for efficiency across the age groups.
Issues of draining off waste water in Universal primary schools of about 1000 pupils has remained a stingy challenge.

Dear Binesh, thanks for bringing up this important question. The Fit for School approach promotes separate low-cost group washing facilities that enable children to practice daily hand washing in schools. Please check our webiste and the following publications. Hope that helps. Best regards, Nicole

Website: www.fitforschool.international

Field Guide: www.fitforschool.international/wp-conten...2015_3rd_edition.pdf

Wow it my honour to contribute in this topic of having handwashing n taps in schools. If you happen to visit schools located in arid and sub arid area you wil be much surprised to see even clean water for consumption is problem leave alone water for washing hands to promote hygiene. There are several primary schools which even classroom is problem they school under tree without trained teacher. This is very common in most school in arid part of our country kenya.

Hi jbr

I have a question regarding on your post, what will be an appropriate space between one tape to another in order to provide enough space for students when their washing they are hands because i haven't see any specification required for placing of one tape to another.

Hi to all
I am responding to the heading above about the standard of hand washing. I haven't seen the guide of hand washing but there is alot of innovation has been undertaken according to the respective area. For example GIZ produced a guide according to the specific area, the guide is all about group handwashing facilities(progaram is called fit for school). This was introduced at Cambodia and revealed postive impact and what now GIZ doing , they are trying to introduce to other country if it can work , also within the guide there are different drawing which you can adopt according to the existing situation of the area

Hi
I am working in WASH for a well-recognized organization and just want to discuss if there should be any separate standards for hand washing station in school. What I have observed that in underdeveloped countries students uses drinking water station as a hand washing station. No doubt that if a school is connected to water supply system for drinking purpose and no additional treatment needed, or no additional cost required to make drinking water safe, than it can be used for the hand washing as well. So should there be a separate standard for a hand-washing station at school considering a child, gender and disable friendly structures? Any examples or cases to share?


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Note by moderator (EvM): Hi Binesh, I have moved your post into an existing thread. If you scroll up and see the previous posts, does that help answer your question? If not, please let us know in this thread.