School hygiene: Sad reality!
(Baonghean) - By the end of January 2012, Nghe An had 743 schools meeting national standards (194 kindergartens, 424 primary schools, 111 secondary schools and 14 high schools), reaching a rate of 47.97% (743/1,549) and 81 schools (1 kindergarten and 80 primary schools) meeting national standards level 2. This is a significant rate for a province with many economic difficulties. However, besides the above encouraging figures, a necessary and sufficient factor for schools to be recognized as national standards is that sanitation work in schools still has many shortcomings. Sadly, this inadequacy is occurring even in schools that have been recognized as national standards.
(Baonghean) - By the end of January 2012, Nghe An had 743 schools meeting national standards (194 kindergartens, 424 primary schools, 111 secondary schools and 14 high schools), reaching a rate of 47.97% (743/1,549) and 81 schools (1 kindergarten and 80 primary schools) meeting national standards level 2. This is a significant rate for a province with many economic difficulties. However, besides the above encouraging figures, a necessary and sufficient factor for schools to be recognized as national standards is that sanitation work in schools still has many shortcomings. Sadly, this inadequacy is occurring even in schools that have been recognized as national standards.
UMBRELLAMr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Deputy Chief of Office of Nghe An Department of Education and Training said: 100% of schools in Nghe An have sanitary facilities, including temporary facilities, of which about 40% meet standards.
However, there are also schools that have met national standards but their sanitation facilities are still not operating due to objective reasons such as: long-term use, now degraded; some rural areas use wells but do not have regular water... such as some schools in Bac Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Nghia Dan... Every year, the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An, the Department of Education and Training of districts establish inspection teams, but some schools are still coping and not really paying attention to school sanitation...
Schools with sanitation problems often have the following common problems: toilets do not meet the ratios required by the Ministry of Education and Training; self-flowing water taps do not work or do not exist; lighting systems do not exist or do not work; toilets are dirty and smell bad. In particular, most schools do not have toilet paper and hand soap for students... Even schools that meet national standards at level 2, such as Le Mao Primary School, have a ratio of over 260 students per toilet (over 1,300 students but only 5 septic tanks).
Ben Thuy Secondary School has dirty and smelly toilets, the lighting system is not working... In Vinh City, the situation is not good, schools in the districts are even more "gloomy". Le Loi Primary School (Hung Phu - Hung Nguyen) has no lighting, no hand washing taps for students. Lam Thanh Secondary School (Hung Chau - Hung Nguyen), Nghi Phong Primary School - Nghi Loc have non-working lighting systems, are dirty and smelly. There are even schools with almost non-functioning toilets, such as Van Dien 1 Primary School, district
Not only is the quality of sanitation facilities poor, schools are also facing a common difficulty of having to cover their own budget for sanitation workers. The payment of 1 - 1.5 million VND/month for sanitation workers, security guards... is a real burden for many schools. In some schools, due to the lack of sanitation workers, part-time or "letting" students handle the work themselves, sanitation work is neglected and becomes a "nightmare" for those who need to go to the toilet during school hours.
An official from the provincial education sector said: When there was a regulation on collecting construction fees at all levels of education, the whole province collected about 70 billion VND each year, which was used for investing, upgrading, and repairing facilities, including school sanitation facilities. When this source of income was no longer available, the Department of Education and Training and schools fell into a difficult situation.
However, it is also necessary to realize that even when there is still a regulation on collecting construction fees, the current state of school sanitation in the province is not very optimistic. Although there is no longer a construction fee collection, every year, schools in the province still mobilize contributions to build schools, the mobilized money needs to be prioritized for investment in repairing, building new schools and taking care of school sanitation.
Mr. Dang Quang Canh - Principal of Le Mao Primary School happily said that the World Bank has agreed to support 100% of the funding to build two new toilets for the school. This is a good sign, a reasonable direction in the condition that schools do not have enough conditions to build new ones themselves. In the long run, if schools only rely on investment sources without finding their own direction, not utilizing revenue from socialized education, students will suffer, studying and living in an unsanitary environment.
On July 20, 2011, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Decision No. 2774 QD.UBND-TM on the detailed allocation of capital for the construction of school sanitation facilities and medical stations under the National Target Program on Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation in 2011. Accordingly, 13 school sanitation facilities in the province were approved for implementation with a total investment of more than VND 2,504 billion, of which the budget supported VND 1,878 billion.
In 2011 alone, the schools in the project received 1,020 billion VND to carry out construction works. However, the construction of the works has had shortcomings. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan - Vice Principal of Van Dien 1 Primary School, Nam Dan District said that the contractor has completed 2/3 of the project, but the design of the project does not include water tanks, tiles, floor tiles and water supply systems. This is a difficult problem for the school because the school's financial resources are limited. If not fully invested, it will easily fall into a situation where the sanitation works have been built but cannot be operated.
Every year, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training organizes interdisciplinary and comprehensive inspection teams on school hygiene. However, after the inspection, everything goes back to the way it was. Moreover, the department does not thoroughly handle violations, so the situation of schools neglecting and not paying attention to sanitation facilities is still common. Therefore, improving the responsibility of the district Education Department, raising the awareness of hygiene of students and school principals in school hygiene is a key factor in creating a safe and hygienic environment for students. In addition, school hygiene also needs to receive sympathy, sharing and support from the whole society.
Vo Van Dung
