Water Quality and Sanitation at Schools: A Cross Sectional Study from Kollam District, Kerala, Southern India

Abstract

Introduction: Schools with poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions are high-risk environments for children, and exacerbate children’s susceptibility to many infections. The objective of the current study was to assess the water quality and basic sanitation in the schools in Kollam district.

Methods: It was a cross sectional study which included describing the sanitary conditions at school using a check list, analyzing microbiological quality of drinking water samples from schools and two focus group discussions (FGDs) with school health nurses to explore the details of study findings.

Results: Data was collected from 78 Government and Government aided schools. Facilities for treated drinking water was available at 42/75 (56%) schools. Toilets were available in all schools. But the ratio of toilet (latrine + urinals) to student varies from 1:10 to 1:137. Only 11.5% (9/78) schools have arrangements to clean toilets regularly on every day and 37.1% of the schools have majority of the toilets with washing facilities attached to it. Two out of 70 drinking water samples collected showed heavy growth of E. coli. FGD revealed that the proportions of students using the sanitary facilities at schools are less. The major reason attributed was poor hygiene of the toilets and limitation in time—as the break is short and the numbers of usable toilets are less in number.

Conclusion: The present environment and sanitation facilities at many of the schools at Kollam district are not fully satisfactory. It is required to provide the future citizens of the nation with a healthy school environment.