What comes to mind when you think about the facilities that are vital to running a school?
Classrooms with desks and chairs? Libraries? Computer rooms? Toilets are probably not high up on the list. And yet for students around the world, inadequate sanitation is a daily reality.
In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, many schoolchildren use open pit latrines, which can be unsanitary and unsafe, with children at risk of falling in and injuring themselves. These facilities provide little privacy and a handful of toilets are often shared by hundreds of students.
This makes focusing on learning a constant challenge and has a big impact on attendance. Some schools report children missing whole lessons1 after joining long queues for the toilet. Many teachers and students end up avoiding the facilities altogether1, using nearby bushes instead. And women and girls are particularly affected2 – in Africa, half of young girls who drop out of education do so because their school doesn’t have basic toilets.
“Waking up in the morning, many people don’t really think about where they go to the toilet. But that is not the case for everyone,” says Samuel Langat, Leader Africa at SATO, a social impact business offering affordable and innovative sanitation and hygiene solutions.
“There needs to be equitable access to sanitation and hygiene. It is a human right.”
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