Dear Working Group Members,

on behalf of Rickson Wachira (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) we would like to share some experiences regarding the situation at the Kibera Primary School in Nairobi with you. Please find his document attached.

Thanks to Rickson Wachira for this contribution!

Many thanks for your post! A very interesting proposal to outsource, in essence, operation and maintenance? Am I correct?

Has this been done in other places or does anyone have an example of this?

I have often reflected on the possibilities of small-scale, private sector or perhaps even NGO model to operation and maintenance.
It has many merits. Perhaps it is a niche that can be filled by NGOs/ private sector- as it is in many cases not seen threatening to Government authority and it works on a scale which is closer to the communities.
I would love to hear examples of this working in other parts of the world . . . Africa, South America, Asia????? Perhaps in developing countries- where examples of privatise model is already been working some time in cafeteria's and other services in schools!

Large institutions often suffer from issues related to inflexible procurement systems and various related issues that make it almost impossible (and often more expensive) to repair existing structures instead to building new.

The institutions operating the schools on the other hand usually don't have the budget nor the qualified personnel to do actual repair and maintenance beyond the most basic level.

Thus as soon as something larger to fix comes up, the higher level of institutional management is activated, which finds it almost impossible to repair instead of rebuild, thus the latter is done. And as the allocated budget does not account for dismantling the old broken stuff, you end up with the stereotypical new next to old pictures everywhere.

A way forward would probably be to outsource building maintenance to a local/regional private sector organization. Not because privatizations is necessarily the best option, but because smaller private enterprises usually have the needed flexibility in their procedures to manage repairs, while being able to bill the larger organization a regular sum that can be easily fit into administrative procedures.

India has one of the largest numbers of school going children, especially in rural area. There are about 6.3 lakh rural schools both primary and upper primary with 8 crore school going children. Schools, which have water and sanitation facilities often, suffer from:
• Non-existent or insufficient water supply and hand washing facilities
• Toilets are not adapted to the needs of the children in particular girls
• Broken, unsafe water supply, sanitation and hand washing facilities
• Children with poor hygiene and hand washing practices
• Non-existent and irrelevant hygiene education for children
• Unhealthy and dirty class rooms and school compounds
• Improper operation and maintenance of the exiting facilities
Under these conditions, schools and community environment become unsafe places where-diseases are transmitted. For example, one of the major problems faced by hundreds of thousands school-age children by variety of pathogen and parasites. Parasites consume nutrients from the infected children bringing about or aggravating malnutrition and retarding children’s physical development. Infections leading to repeated diarrhoea and respiratory infections often compound the exiting poor health of children resulting in frequent absenteeism from school and affecting learning achievements. They also destroy issues and organs on which they live causing pain and various longer term health problems. Water and Sanitation related diseases that are affecting children include diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis, polio, trachoma, and scabies. All of these have compromised children’s attendance and performance at school; and not uncommonly, can result in death.
In is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. The SSA programme is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children, through provision of community-owned quality education in a mission mode. SSA has a special focus on girl’s education and children with special needs.
Features of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
 To open new schools in those habitations which do not have schooling facilities and strengthen exiting school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water, maintenance grant and school improvement grants.
 Exiting schools with inadequate teacher strength are provided with additional teachers.
 Capacity of exiting teachers to be strengthened by extensive training grants for developing teaching-learning materials and strengthening of the academic support structure of a cluster, block and district level.
 Provide quality elementary education including life skills.
 Provide computer education to bridge the digital divide

The above mentioned observations from my evaluation in Odisha and Uttrakhand, India.
with warm regards
Ranjan Kumar Mallick

Dear Working Group Members,
We would like to begin with a bold statement . . . WASH in schools does not need more money! . . . . What do you think?

These pictures below tell an all too familiar story of mismanagement, lack of institutional accountability, liability and responsibility.
Examples of mismanagement : Broken facilities- not useable! (Upper left); Handwashing facilities built with good intentions but no taps for children to use! (Upper right); Who is responsible when its broken, not working or inoperable? (Lower left); Under such situation, is it better to just build new? (Lower right)