Hamed Thabet

Published:04-02-2008

Most of Sana’a’s approximately 270 public schools have no toilets, while those that do are in such unhygienic conditions that neither students nor teachers can use them. Further, at least six to eight schools within the capital’s eight public school districts have no bathrooms at all. At best, Sana’a public schools have three to six toilets for every 4,000 to 5,000 students, but without soap, water and a clean toilet, these bathrooms aren’t fit for student use.

The capital city’s public schools handle between 430,000 and 450,000 students, most of whom are elementary students, while school attendance for those under age 12 increases 10 to 15 percent annually.

According to an international study by the World Health Organization, schools should have one toilet for every 100 students. With both public and private schools in Sana’a averaging 5,000 students, instead of the 20 to 30 toilets required at each school, there are none at all.

While some students wait all day long until they get home to use the bathroom, it’s more common for students – particularly boys – to urinate in the schoolyard or along school walls. Others wait until they have a break and use public toilets such as those in Tahrir Square.

“Because there was no bathroom at our school, at break time, my friends and I would urinate next to the wall,” admits Ahmed Basiri, who graduated last year from Al-Kuwait High School. He adds, “Many others would bring an empty water bottle to urinate in and this was normal.”



Bad toilets = sick kids

According to a group Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence, children and young adults must empty their bladder and bowels regularly and completely in order to remain healthy. Because children and young adults spend at least half their waking hours at school, how much they drink and how often they use the bathroom at school is an important health consideration.Students often avoid school toilets because they are unpleasant, dirty, smelly, not private enough and lack basic hand washing or drying facilities.

Such conditions mean students may try to “hold it,” often until they get home, which results in a number of health problems.

The ill effects of bad bathroom habits include dehydration, constipation, bladder infections and incontinence, which in the long run, can contribute to serious illnesses, such as kidney disease.



No room for schools, no room for toilets

Sana’a governorate education director Hamid Qotran admits that many schools don’t have toilets, explaining, “The main reason is that many of those school premises previously were mosques or private homes. The Education Department approved such locations because it had no other choice.”

Due to lack of funds and a lack of open space to build schools, many such buildings have been reappropriated as schools during the past 10 years. For instance, public schools in the Old City, Azal, Tahrir and Al-Lail neighborhoods all use reappropriated buildings.

According to Qotran, with as many 150 students in each classroom, some schools such as Abdul-Nasser and Al-Kuwait had to use their only bathrooms as classrooms in order to accommodate all of the students.

According to Najwa Qanba’a, manager of guidance and health awareness at the Education Department, the department must send specialized officials to approve any rented premises before it can become a school and they intend do so in the future. She adds, “Unfortunately, this has never happened yet, but we hope it will in the near future.”



Dueling ministries neglect school sanitation

This problem is caused by lack of coordination and cooperation between the Ministries of Education and Health, according to Nabil Nasser, director of the Health in Schools program, who says both ministries have a responsibility to monitor school health.

This year, the two ministries have agreed to create a committee to handle school health problems. The committee will visit schools and submit reports to both ministries, thereby enabling them to pinpoint problems and find solutions. However, the committee hasn’t visited any schools yet.

Nasser maintains that his office previously submitted reports to both ministries, but they never achieved any results. He notes that his bureau is overwhelmed by the responsibilities and that school programs badly need more funding.

“Our department is supposed to be responsible for all schools in Yemen, but the problem is that the Education Ministry has allotted only YR 6 million ($30,000) for us to do our job,” Nasser explains, further querying, “How can we establish programs for five million students when that’s only one Yemeni riyal per student?!”



Free public education strains budget

While lack of funds is a common theme, one cause of such budgetary shortfall was the cancellation of a bill requiring every student to contribute financially to their education: YR 150 for elementary students and YR 200 for high school students per year.

The governor of Sana’a canceled the article two years ago so that education would be free for elementary students, but such action left already impoverished public schools with even more of a financial burden.

“Funds collected from elementary students used to be between YR 300,000 and YR 400,000, so there was a shortage after it was canceled,” Qotran explained, noting, “Education should be free, but there must be some sort of compensation.”



Solutions

“There will be more projects to rebuild and fix unqualified Sana’a schools,” Qotran says, “This request has been submitted to the Education Ministry and the local council and we are awaiting an answer.”

So far this year, 30 new schools have opened in Sana’a. The Education Department directorate has established 17 projects to provide services to old schools, in addition to introducing 205 new and well-educated teachers (including foreign teachers) into the system.

Additionally, Qanba’a proposes that all 500 public and private schools in Sana’a be inspected because many private schools face the same problems. Further, she advocates more health awareness programs and better teacher training.

As Nasser concludes, “Because it’s everyone’s responsibility, we must work together to provide our children a better life. I assure you that it’ll be very difficult, but we must start as soon as possible.”