Hi

I am looking a guideline/standard to calculate number of toilet required based on student ratio for public school. For example, toilet:student ratio needs to be 1:50 and sometimes it is not practical to construct 40 cubical when a school have 2,000 students. So, is there any guideline how to calculate number of urinal required for girls and boys. Is thare is any engineering design, estimate and minimum requirement while constructing school toilet and urinal for girls and boys students?

Thank you for your advice and support.

Binesh Roy

Normally this should be specified in the country's regulations of school construction. Here in the Philippines it is a subsection in the general "sanitary code" (attached as a sample, i.e. not really applicable outside of the Philippines) which has been published by the Ministry of Health, but it really varies from country to country who is in charge of these things.

Alternatively there are some general recommendations in the attached WHO guidance document, but I would really recommend to look for the actual regulations for the country your work in.

Dear Mr. Roy,

Please have a look at the attached publications.

Cheers,
F H Mughal

I wanted to ask exactly the same! Thank you!! Great documents.

I'm glad to note that my contribution was helpful to you. Yes, I also found those documents to be very useful. They give good details.

Good luck in your work.

F H Mughal

Hi,
My colleague Catarina Fonseca has done a study on toilet use and costing in Bangladesh which may be helpful. You can access the study on the IRC website: www.ircwash.org/resources/school-wash-pr...cycle-costs-approach
Hope this is useful.
Best regards

That is an interesting study for Bangladesh. Has Catarina Fonseca done a similar study for Pakistan?

Thank you,

F H Mughal

Hello,
In Democratic Republic of Congo, we have a vast program for WASH in Schools, with an implementation guidelines. I'll send it to you then you will appreciate if it will be useful for you

Dear Mr. Roy

An initiative was taken in this regard by the School Education Department in collaboration with UNICEF in 2015. A protocol for equitable access to WASH facilities have been developed in the state and guidelines issued. The protocol include water point children ratio for hand washing with soap in schools, toilet children ratio, drinking water safety and security etc. I am attaching the guidelines as well as policy decisions taken by the state government to roll out the protocol.`

The study by Catarina Fonseca had been initiated through the BRAC WASH programme in Bangladesh. There has been no such study done in another country.
Kind regards,
T. van Daalen

Sadly I have only come across one report that attempted to estimate the demand for toilets at schools (this focused on urinals - UNICEF Kenya, 2012). How can we possibly begin designing without first conducting studies to determine the peeing and pooping demands at the schools in question? The demand will depend on numerous factors including how many hours the pupils are in school on a typical day. For schools with two separate shifts, the pupils will be there for fewer hours and hence less demand to use a toilet - pupils may need to pee but maybe not to poop, especially if they're encouraged by their parents to always go to the toilet before leaving for school. Other factors will include the age range of the pupils attending the school - younger pupils may need to use a toilet more frequently than older pupils. Or if the school has a mix of day students and boarding students the demand from these two groups maybe different. Peeing demand may be higher during cold weather etc. If anyone knows of any such school toilet demand studies, please let me know. If there are none maybe now's the time to propose participatory ways of doing this? We may find (like the Kenya study) that we're underestimating peeing needs. And who knows, maybe we're overestimating the pooping needs and wasting resources building cubicles that are more often used for peeing than pooping! Let's start doing this work more thoughtfully than simply relying on commonly quoted ratios that don't seem to be supported by any evidence. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thnk you all for your support and sharing various design and standsrds for calculating toilets and urinals required for schools.

Binesh