Dear Colleague,

Please follow on the link below which will take you to a manual developed jointly by WHO/UNICEF for the minimum standards of WASH Services in schools in low income countries

www.unicef.org/wash/files/WASH_in_schools_manual.pdf

Hope this will be of help

Just like community toilet projects, it's the complete cycle of installation, servicing, maintenance and repair that will keep school toilets being used and in good condition.

And responsibility for these activities post-installation needs to be clear from the start - who, what, when, why etc

So I think responsibility for failure of toilet facilities to be used and kept in good order can, in many cases, be laid at the feet of the original project team - the job is not done just because the toilets are built

Great to see systems being put in place to address this such as at: www.washtechnologies.net/en/

Dear Bobbie,

I can tell you that in France, there is 2 standards and I do not understand when one is used and not the other one.
first standard is 1 toilet for 10 girls and 1 toilet for 10 boys. The other one is 1 toilet for 20 girls and 1 toilets for 20 boys.
The minimum is 2 toilet with 1 for people with a handicap. If there are 3 toilet, 1 is for girls, 1 for boys and 1 for people with handicap.

This is also good to adapt toilets for people with a handicap.

Regards

Emmanuel Morin
Ecodomeo

Thanks Joe, Doreen, Christian, Claudia and Inajurga for sharing very interesting materials and reports. They are very helpful!

Regards

Bobbie

Hi. I have been interested in school urinals for some years now as i think they are the cheapest, easiest way of getting kids to use clean toilets - and lets face it how many kids urinate at school compared to defecate? . i have attached a document with pictures for boys, girls, and even special urinals for older girls where they can also manage their menstrual hygiene. I would appreciate feedback. Joe

Dear Christian: I don't understand what the urinals for girls consist of. Can you explain, please?
Joyce

Joyce M Lockard,
Beaverton Rotary Club in Oregon,
Rotary D5100

Dear Bobby,

I had compiled sometime ago some data on ratios concerning school toilets and ratios. Maybe it is useful to you.

Best regards,
Christian

Dear Bobbie

did you have already a look at the following website www.washinschoolsmapping.com/

it has a good compilation of policies and standards for a range of countries (yet only if they exist)

Dear Bobbie,

many countries have even stricter regulations for numbers than the WHO but if you look at type of toilets implemented without privacy, doors.. it might be a disaster for pupils to go there even if the number is ok. It is better to have a smaller number of toilets per pupil but a higher quality. I agree with Joe?s comments and like to refer again to the recommenations and table 1 in our brochure: www.wecf.eu/download/2009/wecf_school_sanitation_english.pdf

Claudia

Dear Bobbie,

What we have in Kenya is a School Health Policy document drafted by the Kenyan Ministry of Education together with the Ministry of Health (MOH) aiming to provide a national framework for integration of health and education through school-based interventions. We do not have any specific technical standards for schools.

At the moment the ratio in Kenyan schools is one toilet for 25 girls, 1 toilet for 30 boys (WHO standards)

Please bear with me but I cannot find the document in the Ministry of Public Health website. I will ask my colleagues and post the document here once I find it.

Best regards,

Doreen

hi Bobbie,
i sent a reply with attachments - but looks like they did not post (poor internet connection) so apologies if it did and i am repeating. there are 2 documents that will interest you:
1 - a baseline study of school WASH in Malawi (2008) by ministry of education - where the standards are stated explicitly.
2 - a comprehensive research of school toilets (2012) by Ministry of Education / UNICEF which i led. this research and proposals has been endorsed by the ministry, but uptake is quite slow. the report asks the sector to take a breather and evaluate the consequences of our support to schools.


I am also enjoying the posts.

regards

Joe

Hi Elisabeth and Joe,

I've been enjoying the SuSanA digests since subscribing.

Thanks for the comments from both of you and the valuable points you make.

Elisabeth, could you tell me where I could find the Kenyan standards you referred to? In the Kenyan Stafety Standards Manual for schools I found a reference to an infrastructure manual but haven't been able to find it. We are trying to do a brief scan of standards anywhere else in the world to provide some context for making recommendations for South Africa. Thanks for sending the link for Trevor Malaudzi.

Joe, would you be able to direct me to a document where the standards for Malawi are published? Is 1:60 for girls as well? Interesting points about urinals, taps and VIPs! Thank you!

Regards

Bobbie