Equity in School Water and Sanitation

EQUITY IN SCHOOL WATER AND SANITATIONAgreed structures worked out with children whichensure that children feel proud of their facilitiesand help to maintain them in ways which involveall children but are not exploitative of themActive involvement of teachersAgreements which ensure who is responsiblefor monitoring the cleanliness of facilities6.2.2 Inclusion and nondiscriminationIn all countries a high proportion of menstruatinggirls were seen to be temporarily excluded eachmonth because of inadequate sanitation facilities.The fact that there were no facilities for them towash sanitary cloths or dispose of pads, and alsothe lack of privacy, meant that many girls simplytook days off when they were menstruating. Thereappeared to be little in the way of impartingknowledge about menstruation and exampleswere given of schools omitting sections of thecurriculum which dealt with menstruation.Country studies showed that in all schools visitedthe personal cleanliness of children wasconsidered very important. While this is positivein that it can instil a sense of self-respect and pridethere were examples of children, especially thosefrom poorer families, who came to school notmeeting the required standards. There were alsoexamples of some teachers making an implicitassumption that these children were somehowless able and less motivated than others. Whilesome schools had established very positive waysof ensuring inclusion of all children, for examplethrough equity in allocation of duties or privilegesand in seating arrangements, others showed cleardisparities. Sometimes children werediscriminated against along traditional lines ofcaste and ethnicity; sometimes on grounds ofpoverty. There were also indications of theemergence of new elites with children who camefrom richer or more influential families and childrenwho appeared more clever, neater and cleanerbeing given additional privileges and exempt fromcleaning duties.Questions which need to be addressedFor policy makers:What policies exist on non-discrimination ineducation? What steps are being taken to implement thesepolicies? What initial teacher training and in-serviceteacher training programmes are there oninclusion and non-discrimination? How is the importance of the ‘social curriculum’recognized and are all schools encouraged tospend some teaching time focusing on issuessuch as social relationships, diversity andequity? Are any figures collected on the proportion ofgirls who miss school when they aremenstruating and the effect this has on theirachievement in education? Is menstruation covered as a curriculum topicand if so is the teaching of this topic included instaff training programmes?For managers, supervisors and trainers:When starting new projects do you spend timetalking with a full range of community membersand children at school in order to understandthe profile of the community and possible areasof discrimination?What steps do you take to ensure that anyprojects address these potential areas ofinequality?Do you discuss with adolescent girls theparticular needs they have and theirsuggestions for addressing these needs andincorporate these when you design facilities?At school level (teachers, pupils and parents):How can you support those children who mightfind it difficult to maintain school standards ofcleanliness, for example providing soap oropportunities to wash clothes or clean shoes?How can the School Management Committeeand teachers work together to ensure thatteachers do not make automatic assumptionsthat poor children, who might find it difficult tocome to school clean, are also less clever orless motivated?How do you ensure that when tasks such astoilet cleaning are allocated this is done on astrict basis of equality?How do you also ensure that privileges, suchas fetching water for a teacher, are alsoallocated equally amongst all children?What do your school policies say in relation to42