An exploratory investigation into the status of water, sanitation and hygiene (wash) of schools in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The status of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities was investigated in sixty schools in seven local government areas of Enugu  State, Nigeria. A total of sixty schools comprising of twenty-four (24) private schools, twenty (20) government schools and Sixteen (16)  mission schools were investigated in this study. Using questionnaire and on-the-spot assessment, WASH facilities in the selected schools  were subjected to in-depth scrutiny. The highest number of schools that do not have a water source within the school premises are  government schools (10), followed by private schools (7) and then mission schools (2). About seventy-one percent (71%) of the schools  investigated rely on self-help water supply sources such as water vendors, rainwater harvesting and private boreholes. Fifty-seven (57) or  95% of the sixty (60) schools of all the schools have toilet facilities ranging from improved pit latrine (10%), flush toilet (31.7%) and pour  flush toilet (53.3%). With respect to toilet cleaning, 33%, 17% and 50% of private, government and mission school clean their toilets every  day. Fifty-five percent (55%) of all schools always provide handwashing facilities while 13.3% never provide handwashing facilities. Based  on school category, the distribution of schools that provide handwashing facilities are as follows: private schools – 54.2%, government  schools – 40% and mission schools – 75%. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.85) between availability of toilet facilities and provision  of handwashing facilities. There was also a significant correlation (r = 0.555) between the provision of handwashing facilities  and the provision of soap.