Student Population
Unique location characteristics, social mannerisms and norms that influence the appropriate WASH solution for individual schools
Student Population
My Location, My Choice
The choice of appropriate sanitation systems for any given context requires a system-based approach to ensure long-term sustainability of the systems. This approach begins from the appreciation of the different key contextual factors which characterize a given setting. There are four main typical school contexts which affect the choice of sanitation systems in schools. These are:
Population size of learners
The number of students in a school (students capacity) affects the toilet use and fill-up rates of off-grid (non-sewered) toilets. The number of toilet stands required to serve the student population is thus an important consideration for this school context.
Schools exist with different capacities;
- Small – serving up to 200 students
- Medium – serving between 200-600 students
- Large – serving over 600 students.
The majority of public primary schools in countries in the global south fall within the medium to high capacity categories. The population size of learners’ context complicates sanitation planning for schools. To counter this, school sanitation experts developed standards (toilet unit to student ratio) to guide engineers, sanitation practitioners, and school authorities in planning for adequate sanitation facilities for schools.
To increase toilet capacity during peak use times, schools should also introduce rotational breaks where different classes/class streams take their breaks intermittently to avoid congestion/long queues during break times. This strategy will automatically increase toilet capacity by 50% without constructing additional toilets.
The WHO recommendation for toilet unit-to-student ratio is 1:30 for boys and 1:25 for girls. Resource constraints have pushed different countries to adopt standards within their capacity. Countries in the global south recommend one stand for every 100 girls and one unit for every 150 boys. African countries recommend 1:50 for girls and 1:100 for boys. Where resources allow, a 1:50 stand/student ratio is much preferred. For this school factor, this blueprint aims to assess and recommend different holistic sanitation solutions, which can be adapted to sustainably manage sanitation in schools with either small, medium, or large student capacities.