Abuja – The Federal Ministry of Water Resources has urged all stakeholders to implement the country’s hygiene-promotion strategy to boost overall sanitation in schools.
Mrs Chizoma Opara, an Assistant Chief Scientific Officer in the ministry, made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Opara said implementing the strategy would increase school attendance and also reduce possible outbreak of preventable diseases.
NAN reports that Nigeria’s hygiene-promotion strategy focuses on empowering communities to eliminate open defecation, promote sanitation and community health.
She said the outcome of field trips and researches had shown a lot of leakages in school sanitation and community sanitation,
The assistant chief scientific officer revealed that a new strategy was being developed.
She said lack of toilets and proper hand washing facilities has been known to be the leading cause of girl-child absenteeism in some schools.
She said it was worthy to note that most female pupils preferred to stay at home when they were on their monthly periods.
According to her, this is the leading cause of out-of-school children in many parts of the country.
“The issues of menstrual hygiene is very crucial, studies have shown that grown-up female children do not go to school a week every month, this is because of menstruation and lack of privacy.
“They don’t want their male counterpart to know that they are doing menstruation that week and they feel that they will be properly catered for at home.
“They prefer to opt out of school, instead of messing themselves up at school, and being made jest of, “ she said.
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Opara called on government at all levels to provide water, sanitation and hygiene components available in all schools, especially in the rural areas.
She said that schools could not move forward and be inclusive, if there were no gender-sensitive toilet facilities.
Opara said the provision of water points where the children could always cleanup was important for their well being.
“Children need water in schools where they can go to wash after physical education, practical lessons.
“They have to wash their hands at those critical periods, so if water is not available in the school, it becomes difficult for any child to promote his or her health. “
She said promoting health through water, sanitation and hygiene was a necessity as it must also reflected the needs of all members of the society.
He said efforts were on to address sanitation and hygiene components for schools to reduce spread of water-borne diseases.
“If water is available, if toilet facilities are available in a number that is proportionate to the population in the school, the school will be gender sensitive, and diseases will be reduced,“ she said. (NAN)