Whereas the school has seven latrine stances (four for girls and three for boys), all are filthy, almost full and dented, making them unusable by the 991 pupils of the school.
According to Wilfred Muswa, the school’s head teacher, the latrines are sometimes overcrowded and unable to cope with the number of learners that need to use them.
“Sometimes, you will find 124 pupils struggling for one stance and yet government’s standard number is 40 pupils or students per one stance,” Muswa tells The Observer.
When we visited, we found that none of the latrines had toilet paper and hand washing facilities. The sight of maggots on the latrine floors is unbelievable. In fact, there were large dents at the rear in both the boys’ and girls’ latrine blocks, a sign that the latrines will soon cave in.
To add to the crisis, a permanent pungent smell is hovering over the latrines, which is not helped by the attitude of some residents, who prefer to defecate in the open, sometimes in the school compound in the morning or late in the evening.
Muswa says they have written thrice to the local government education department, asking for modern toilet facilities but no answer has been remitted.
“On two occasions, we have been warned by the district health inspector that these latrines will be closed down if we do not empty them, he further explains, the fear visible in his eyes. “But we do not have the resources to do so. In fact we are taking the risk and using them because we do not have a better alternative.”
Kevin Aweko, the school’s headgirl, knows of many health hazards of latrine infections that could arise out of using such unhygienic places.
“Sometimes when I’m menstruating, I have to go back home to clean myself because the toilets here are filthy and I fear they could fall in any time,” Aweko laments. “I always need water to clean myself whenever I use the latrine because of my heavy flow but that is very rare in the school.”
Marachtho Amoya, the school’s senior woman teacher, decries the lack of shutters on the girl’s bathroom. She says this discourages girls from cleaning up during their menstrual periods. In fact, the bathroom has been tuned into a urinal which further exposes pupils to infections. She cites one P7 girl, who dropped out of school because of intense itching in her private parts.
“I suspected she had candida and when she went back home for treatment, she did not return,” she recalls.
FORGING SOLUTIONS
As if acting on the impulse of the proverb, ‘necessity is the mother of invention,’ the school administration has come up with local solutions to address the challenge of latrine hygiene. One of the teachers who preferred anonymity says cleaning the toilets is a form of punishment they give to undisciplined pupils at the school. This is one of the ways the school tries to keep the latrines hygienic.
Furthermore, Muswa says they are trying to dig a new pit although work has now stalled because of inadequate financing.
“We are now trying to lobby funds from government and parents to see to it that we complete this pit. The Pacego small town water project has also assured us of constructing for the school another pit latrine and we are waiting on them,” he says.
ninsiima@observer.ug