Sanitation Practices and Implication on Student’s Health (Case Study of Enugu State College of Education (Technical) Enugu)
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to find out the implication of sanitation practices on students health in Enugu State college of Education (technical). Specifically this study was to:
- Identify the causes of poor sanitation practices on student’s health in Enugu State College of Education (Technical)
- Determine the extent in which the school management have contributed in providing facilities that will enhance sanitation practices in Enugu State College of Education (Technical) Enugu.
- Find out the strategies that could be employed to curb dirtiness in Enugu State College of Education (Technical).
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Sanitation practice are among the powerful drivers of human development as it affects quality of life at many levels including improved health of students. There is growing awareness among public health practitioners that, until proper hygiene is consistently practiced, both at home, in the community as a whole and institutions, the desired impacts of improved sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in terms of community health benefits cannot be realized.
Sanitation can be seen as the policy and practice of protecting health through hygienic measures. In the view of the World Health Organization (WHO) (2007), sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces. It has been realized that improving sanitation is known to have a significant impact on health both in households and across communities (WHO, 2007).
School sanitation refers to hygienic practices that occur in schools. Coppens (2005) consider School Sanitation and Hygiene Education as the combination of hardware and software components that are necessary to produce a healthy school environment to develop or support safe hygiene behaviour.
Learning in an unhygienic environment can affect learning in a lot of ways. Snel (2004) and Water Aid Uganda (2013) indicate that “health influences learning and education influences health which is indicated in the fact that poor sanitation causes diarrhoea which keeps students in hospitals rather than in schools”. They also noted that diarrhoea kills 1.5 million children each year. It is obvious that a sick person cannot learn properly. Poor sanitation could also lead to waterborne diseases (like typhoid, cholera,), infections with intestinal worms, stunted growth and malnutrition. (Sharma, 2015).More than five million people die each year from diseases related to inadequate waste disposal systems (WHO, 2007).There are so many indications of poor sanitation in most institutions. The promises of school health and hygiene education programmes have not always been fulfilled by either the government or stakeholders in education (Danida, 2007). Many school environments in most institutions are not safe for students due to neglect of the operation and maintenance of health facilities. Danida further states that schools often suffer from non-existent or insufficient water supply, sanitation and hand washing facilities, dirty and unsafe water supply, toilets or latrines that are not adapted to the needs of students particularly girls; nonexistence of hygiene education, unhealthy and dirty classrooms/school compounds among others.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine sanitation practices and implication on student’s health.
SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study sanitation practices and implication on student’s health. 200 students of Enugu State College of Education (Technical) were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
INTRODUCTION
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
INTRODUCTION
It is pertinent to note that this research was aimed at addressing the problems of lack of proper sanitation and it health effect on students, thus the topic “sanitation practices and implication on student’s health”.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges associated with sanitation practices and implication on student’s health.
SUMMARY
The findings of this study revealed that the causes of poor sanitation are inadequate hygiene education, neglect of health facilities, insufficient water supply, inadequate toilet/latrine facilities, lack of dustbins for disposing wastes, throwing rubbish anywhere in the compound, inadequate funds to provide sanitation equipment and poor waste storage methods adopted. The findings are supported by Danida (2007) when he said that schools often suffer from non-existent or insufficient water supply, sanitation and hand washing facilities, dirty and unsafe water supply; toilets or latrines that are not adapted to the needs of students particularly girls; nonexistence of hygiene education, unhealthy and dirty classrooms/school compounds among others. Also, the findings are also supported by Ogawa (2005) when he revealed that lack of sanitation, unsafe disposal or storage of waste in/around houses and streets, and in undesignated containers may provide habitats for vectors of diseases that cause various infectious diseases including typhoid fever and diarrheas.
It also revealed that the effects of poor sanitation on students’ health include students being affected by diarrhea , students being affected by typhoid, students falling sick due to cholera infection, students being sick due to malaria and student mortality in extreme cases. The findings is supported by WHO (2007) when it estimated that 88% of diarrheal disease is caused by unsafe water supply and inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
CONCLUSION
Sanitation is necessary in all places which includes schools. School sanitation refers to hygienic practices that occur in schools. However, sanitation in institutions have been observed to be poor. This is due to a number of factors such as inadequate hygiene education, neglect of health facilities, insufficient water supply, inadequate toilet/latrine facilities, lack of dustbins for disposing wastes, throwing rubbish anywhere in the compound, inadequate funds to provide sanitation equipment and poor waste storage methods adopted. Poor sanitation has led to negative effects on students’ health. Poor sanitation leads to students’ ill health which can lead to failure of students in their academic work. Effects of poor sanitation on student health is manifested in students being sick due to diseases like malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, and even death in extreme cases. Due to these negative effects, school management have devised means of ensuring proper sanitation. These ways include employing cleaners to keep the environment clean and encouraging people to undertake research in environmental sanitation. However, these aren’t enough to ensure proper sanitation Ensuring sanitation in schools involves a lot of ways which should preferably be used together instead of adopting these methods in isolation. The methods include; the need for students to undertake hygiene education, more health workers should be trained to include sanitation practices counselling into their consultations with patients, more toilets should be put in place in strategic locations to complement the existing ones so as to reduce incessant urination and faecal deposit, impromptu inspection around the campus from time to time. Management should source for more funds from local and international levels which would be used for providing sanitation facilities, partnership should be established with private agencies to help convert waste to wealth through waste reduction, reuse and recycling and regular seminars should be organized on the need for sanitation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made;
1) The school management has to ensure that the various ways of improving sanitation within the institution are used in synergy instead of in isolation due to fact these methods are all important.
2) The government at all levels should provide the necessary funds needed by the school management to ensure the procurement of various facilities/equipment needed for students to live in a hygienic environment 3) The school management have to ensure that those in charge of cleaning the school environment are adequately monitored so as to ensure they discharge their duties properly.
References
- Acheampong (2014), Tourisms in Ghana: The accommodation sub sector. Accra, Ghana: Janel Publication.
- Achi, L.B. (2002). “Effective collection, transportation and hygienic disposal of solid waste in Kaduna State. Paper presented at the training workshop on waste management organized by FGN/UNDP/Kaduna State in collaboration with Janz Investment Limited at Federal Livestock Department and Pest Control Services, Kaduna 26 –29th February, 2002.
- Achi, L.B. (2000). Waste management in Kaduna state – “A collective approach” Paper presented at industrial Pollution abatement Committee (IPAC) with Kaduna Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA), March 2000, Kaduna
- Adetoye, F (1999). The Geography question paper and how to answer it. A hand book of Geography Teaching for Schools and Colleges. Heinemann Educational Books, Nigeria, Plc pp.340.
- Ahmed; M. Adewale, O. (1994). Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Nigeria, Institute of Advance Legal Studies, Lagos.
- Aina, E.O.A. (1996). “Environmental and population: Factors in the Management of peace and development in Nigeria”. Paper presented at the National Seminar on Culture and Education for peace. Organized by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation in collaboration with UNESCO Kaduna, 27 – 28th June, 1996.
- Akinjide. O (1997). Dimension of environmental problems in Nigeria. Pp. 69 – 80 Published by Davidson Press U.I. P.M.B. 22808 Ibadan Nigeria. Adewole, O. (1982). Waste disposal and environment. New Nigerian Newspaper of Wednesday March 31, (1999) Pp. 7