FINAL REPORT

A study on Menstrual Hygiene Management in Mongolia:
Understanding practices and impacts on adolescent schoolgirls’ education and health
Table 6 Types of toilet facilities for urban, provincial and rural schools
Observation Response Urban schools Aimag/provincial
schools
Categories Categories No. of toilets,
N=79
Type of toilet
facilities
% No. of toilets,
N=77
Soum schools
% No. of toilets,
N=65
Flush toilet 75 95% 65 81% 7 11%
Pit latrine 4 5% 8 10% 52 80%
Improved ventilated
pit latrine
0
0%
Unknown/NA 0 0% 1 5% 1 2%
Girls were concerned about water pressure in school flush toilets because if the pressure was low,
they had to wait and flush the toilet several times to ensure all bloodstains disappeared, as they did
not want the next user to notice. This shows that girls also hide from each other the fact that they
are menstruating; or that they fear others blaming them for getting blood on the bowl or being
unhygienic.
In the rural schools, toilets were not always well separated for boys and girls, particularly in rural
areas. Sometimes, outdoor school latrines for boys and girls were separated by a simple plank wall
between toilet cubicles.
Sometimes school toilets were closed in the evening (when girls may be attending extracurricular
activities), which means they had to use whatever other toilets were open, even the boys’ toilets.
3
4%
5
%
8%
“Once we wanted to use the male toilet, there was a male teacher peeing.”
(UrbanS1_Girls FDG+2)
Figure 11. Outdoor pit latrine
Provincial school WASH facilities
The provincial schools had a mixture of indoor
toilets and outdoor latrines. When there were
indoor facilities, handwashing areas were close
to the toilet area which enabled children to wash
their hands immediately after using the toilet.
According to the schoolchildren, indoor latrines in
most cases were locked as the school management
was concerned about the cost of emptying them,
so children were forced to use outdoor latrines. The
condition of outdoor pit latrines in the provincial
schools was almost the same as in rural schools.
Source: CSWE
WASH conditions in rural schools with outdoor simple
pit latrines
Most of the rural schools and dormitories had outdoor open pit latrines, which did not provide privacy.
In most cases cubicles did not have locks or lighting, which meant girls did not feel comfortable
changing their pads there. The girls’ reports confirm this description.
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