Sanitation in Schools

101

Sanitation in the Indian Educational Context An Opportunity Analysis

Sanitation in Schools

102 - India · Sanitation in Schools - D4SB 103 103

“No innovation in the past 200 years has done more to save lives and improve health than the sanitation revolution triggered by invention of the toilet, but it did not go far enough. It only

reached one-third of the world. What we need are new approaches. New ideas. In short, we need to reinvent the toilet”.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell President of the Gates Foundation

Global Development Program


IndexWhy India

The Indian Context

India Profile 111

India in Numbers 111

Culture and Religion 114

Understanding Sanitation 115

Common Water and Sanitation Related Diseases 116

Sanitation Facilities and Practices 116

Improved Sanitation 117

Sanitation and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 117

Sanitation in India 118

India and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 119

The Education System In India 120

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Schools 121

Benchmarks 122

Project Goal 124

Observation

The India Field Research Program 128

The Rural Area 129

Rural Schools General Information 135

On Sanitation 136

Rural Schools Sanitation Information 138

Activities Conducted with the Children 140

School Interviews Additional Notes 140

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Schools - Boys 142

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Schools - Girls 143

Sanitation Priorities and Desires 144

Toilet Infrastructure Problems 145

The Urban Area 147

SULABH International 148

Teach 4 India 150

Chehak Trust 154

The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC)

158

Ashansh 160

Perceptions and Behaviors 162

Synthesis

Problems, Needs and Key Success Factors 166

Opportunity Spaces 168

Projections

Projections 172

Bibliography 175


Poverty in India remains a major issue where the country is estimated to have a third of the world’s poor, particularly in rural areas. In order to spread and accelerate the social business movement, GCL has expanded and launched its most recent office in Mumbai. In addition, the Yunus social business fund in Mumbai is currently under development in order to encourage the initiation of social business by providing adequate funding across all social sectors in India.

As the Design for Social Business team, our challenge in India was to identify opportunities that can lead to the improvement of sanitation, one of the country’s most pressing problems. With education being one of the most important channels for penetration, we focused our design research on schools in rural and urban areas around Mumbai for a better comprehension of the effects poor sanitation has on students’ attendance, dropout rates and overall health.

Why India?


TheIndianContext

111 111

India ProfileIndia in Numbers

Being the seventh biggest country by geographical area, the Independent Republic of India is the second most populous country in the world. With over 1.17 billion people (2010 est.), India is projected to be the world’s most populous country by 2025, with its population reaching 1.6 billion by 2050.

Rural and urban populations

Literacy rate (for people age 15

and above)

Poverty head count ratio at national poverty line

Capital City: New DehliIncome Level: Lower middle incomeGDP: $1,729,010,242,154 (2010 est.)GNI per Capita: $1,340 (2010 est.)

Total population in India1.2 billion

Total population in Europe852.4 million

Total population in the US320 million

29%urban 37%

illiterate

72.5%not poor

71%rural 63%

literate

27.5%poor


total population 1.2 billion

total population lacking access

to any kind of toilet638 million

rural population lacking access


total rural population 852 million

total population lacking access to any kind of toilet

638 million

rural population lacking access


Sanitation in India. An Overviewchildren under 5die annually due to diarrhea

only

of India’s wastewater is being treated


Culture and Religion

Muslim - 13.4%

Hindu - 80.5%

Others - 6.1%

Figure 3. The most common religions in India.

Understanding Sanitation

Sanitation is understood as providing facilities and services that ensure the safe disposal of human excreta (urine and feces), which are meant to avoid open space defecation. The lack of infrastructure combined with inadequate sanitation practices is a major cause of disease worldwide. Improving sanitation has proven to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in households and across communities. Sanitation also refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal.

BRAHMINSPriests & Academics

KSHATRIYASWarriors & Kings

VAISHYASBusiness community

KSHUDRASServants, subordinate to Vaishyas,

Khastriyas & Brahmins

DALITUntouchables, subordinate to all,

responsible for all the lower-order work

Figure 4. The caste system in India

There are about 18 official languages in India with Hindi and English being the most spoken. Most of its population is Hindu followed by Muslims and other religions which include Sikhs and Christians among others.

India Caste System

The Hindu caste system hierarchically categorizes people based on their occupations where each person is born into an unalterable social status. The four primary castes are: Brahmin (the priests), Kshatriya (warriors and nobility), Vaisya (farmers, traders and artisans) and Shudra (tenant farmers and servants). The people born outside the caste system are called Dalits or “untouchables”. The outcastes’ occupations, regarded as impure, include butchering, rubbish removal and waste disposal.

Although today caste discrimination is officially illegal, it remains prevalent mostly in rural areas. The Indian government has made strong efforts in minimizing the significance of the caste system through expanding education and economic opportunity in the countryside.


» By increasing school attendance » By building community pride and social cohesion » By contributing to poverty eradication

Common Water and Sanitation Related Diseases Improved Sanitation

Sanitation Facilities and Practices

Among the inadequate sanitation practices, the one that poses the greatest threat to human health is open defecation. When talking about proper sanitation, water contamination cannot be excluded since in indiscriminate defecation, excreta often finds its way into sources of drinking water and food and is the root cause of faecal-oral transmission of diseases.

Unicef defines a list of common unimproved sanitation related diseases, which include: Diarrhea, Cholera, parasitic worms, Typhoid, and Dysentery among others. Diarrhea is the most important public health problem directly related to water and sanitation. About 4 billion cases of diarrhea per year cause 1.8 million deaths, over 90% of them (1.6 million) are among children under five.

Bush or field

Due to the absence of proper infrastructure, excreta is deposited on the ground and covered with a layer of earth, wrapped and thrown into garbage or defecation is done into surface water.

Bucket

Refers to the use of a container for the retention of faeces, urine and anal cleaning material, which are periodically removed for treatment, disposal, or used as fertilizer.

Hanging toilet / latrine

Refers to a toilet built over a body of water in which excreta drops directly.

Pit latrine

This facility uses a hole in the ground for excreta collection. In some cases, this kind of infrastructure may have a squatting slab or seat raised above the surrounding ground level to prevent surface water from entering the pit. An improvement in the infrastructure consists of a ventilation pipe that extends above the latrine roof and is covered fly-proof netting (Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine ‘VIP’).

Flush toilet

This kind of toilet uses a tank that flushes water and is sealed in order to prevent the passage of flies and odors (also called water seal). A pour flush toilet also uses a water seal, but in contrary to the normal flush toilet, it has no tank and uses water poured by hand for flushing.

Composting toilet

A dry toilet into which carbon-rich materials are added to the excreta which is kept in special conditions to produce inoffensive compost; it may or may not have a urine separation device.

Piped sewer system

Piped system and facilities (sewerage) that collect, pump, treat and dispose human excreta and wastewater and remove them from the household.

Septic tank

An excreta collection device consisting of a water-tight settling tank. Normally located underground, away from the house or toilet, the treated effluent of the tank usually seeps into the ground through a leaching pit or discharged into a sewerage system.

‘Improved’ sanitation facilities are those that reduce the chances of people coming into contact with human excreta and therefore becoming more sanitary than unimproved facilities. These include:

» Toilets that flush waste into a piped sewer. » Septic tank or pit. » Dry pit latrines constructed with a cover.

These kinds of facilities are only considered to be improved if they are private rather than shared with other households.

Some 2.6 billion people worldwide – two in five – do not have access to improved sanitation, and about 2 billion of these people live in rural areas. According to the United Nations, proper sanitation can foster social development, which at its core, is about human dignity and human rights. For the people who lack access to a proper infrastructure and practice open defecation, human dignity is under daily assault. A toilet can improve social development in a number of ways:

» By aiding progress toward gender equality » By promoting social inclusion

About 4 billion cases of diarrhea per year cause 1.8

million deaths, over 90% of them (1.6 million) are

among children under five.

Sanitation and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

One single gram of feces can contain:

10,000,000 viruses

1,000,000 bacteria

1,000 parasite cysts

100 parasite eggs

Table 1. Parasites found in one gram of feces.

Table 2. Differences between improved and unimproved sanitation facilities

Figure 5. Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

What is an improved facility?

Improved Unimproved

Flush or pour flush to:

» piped sewer system » septic tank » pit latrine

Flush or pour flush to elsewhere.

Pit latrine without slab or open pit

Ventilated improved pit latrine (VIP)

Hanging pit or hanging latrine

Bucket

Composting toilet No facilities (bush or field); open defecation

Goal No. 7c. specifically states “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”. Which in this case would be considered as access to improved sanitation facilities.

Though proper sanitation has huge benefits in public health, gender equity, poverty reduction and economic growth, it is often a relatively low priority within the official development plans. Domestic budget allocations and official development assistance are often scarce, and

in many instances, interventions are not targeted to the population most in need.

At the current rate of progress, the world will miss the target of halving the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation. Though global sanitation coverage increased from 49% in 1990 to 59% in 2004. In 2008, an estimated 2.6 billion people around the world lacked access to an improved sanitation facility. If the trend continues, that number will grow to 2.7 billion by 2015.

Figure 5. Icons showcasing a Western style toilet and a Squat toilet that is more common in India.

Western style toilet with flush

Squat toilet


water resources are polluted, and 80% of the pollution is due to sewage alone.

Diarrhea accounts for almost one fifth of all deaths (or nearly 535,000 annually) among Indian children under 5 years. Also, rampant worm infestation and repeated diarrhea episodes result in widespread childhood malnutrition. Due to this problem, India is losing billions of dollars each year. Illnesses are costly to families, and to the economy as a whole in terms of productivity losses and expenditures on medicines, health care, and funerals. The economic toll is also apparent in terms of water treatment costs, losses in fisheries production and tourism, and welfare impacts, such as reduced school attendance, inconvenience, wasted time, and lack of privacy and security for women.

Major factors that have impeded effective implementation of a rural sanitation program include very low priority given to sanitation as a social and community issue, lack of infrastructure and systems to reach all rural households, and most importantly, scarcity of water.

Sanitation in India

It is estimated that 55% of all Indians (638 million) still lack access to any

kind of toilet. Of this total, people who live in urban slums and rural

environments are affected the most. In rural areas, the scale of the

problem is particularly daunting, as 74% of the rural population

still defecates in the open.

India Sanitation in Numbers

Only 31% of India’s population use improved sanitation (2008)

In rural India 21% use improved sanitation facilities (2008)

145 million people in rural India gained access to improved sanitation between 1990-2008

211 million people gained access to improved sanitation in whole of India between 1990-2008

India is home to 638 million people defecating in the open; over 50% of the population.

Table 3. India sanitation landscape in numbers.

India seems to be lagging behind MDG target values in almost all the parameters under consideration. Human development hence remains to be an area of concern. Education and health are the critical areas and we continue to be distant from the targeted goals. Infant and child mortality, undernourished population, as well as maternal mortality are specific areas where much still needs to be achieved. Even though the overall access to improved sanitation facilities has increased, the gap between rural and urban areas is still very high.

It is estimated that 55% of all Indians (638 million) still lack access to any kind of toilet. Of this total, people who live in urban slums and rural environments are affected the most. In rural areas, the scale of the problem is particularly daunting, as 74% of the rural population still defecates in the open.

In both environments, cash income is very low and the idea of building a facility for defecation inside or near the house may not seem natural. Where facilities do exist, they are often inadequate. The sanitation landscape in India is still littered with 13 million unsanitary bucket latrines, which require scavengers to conduct house-to-house excreta collection. Over 700,000 Indians still make their living this way.

The situation in urban areas is not as critical in terms of scale, but the sanitation problems in crowded environments are typically more serious and immediate. In these areas, the main challenge is to ensure safe environmental sanitation. Even in areas where households have toilets, the contents of bucket-latrines and pits, even of sewers, are often emptied without regard for environmental and health considerations.

Sewerage systems, if available, suffer from poor maintenance, which leads to overflows of raw sewage. Today, with more than 20 Indian cities with populations of more than 1 million people, the antiquated sewerage systems cannot handle the increased load of wastewater. These cities include Indian megacities, such as Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi. In New Delhi alone, existing sewers originally built to serve a population of only 3 million cannot manage the wastewater produced daily by the city’s present inhabitants, now close to a massive 14 million.

The capacity for treating wastewater is also acutely inadequate, as India has neither enough water to flush-out city effluents nor enough money to set up sewage treatment plants. In 2003, it was estimated that only 30% of India’s wastewater was being treated. Much of the rest—amounting to millions of liters daily— find its way into local rivers and streams. According to the country’s Tenth Five-Year Plan, three-fourths of India’s surface

India and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

Goal Indicator Value(Year)

MDG target

Proportion of population below poverty line (%) 27.5(2005)

18.75

Undernourished people as in % of population 76(2005)

31.1

Proportion of undernourished children 46(2006)

27.4

Ratio of girls to boys in primary education 0.94(2007)

1

Literacy rate of 15 - 24 year olds 82.1(2007)

100

Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education 0.82(2007)

1

Under five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)

74.6(2006)

41

Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)

53(2008)

27

Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births)

254(2006)

109

Rural population with sustainable access to an improved water source (%)

79.6(2008)

80.5

Urban population with sustainable access to an improved water source (%)

95.0(2008)

94

Rural population with access to sanitation (%)

44.0(2008)

72

Urban population with access to sanitation (%)

81(2008)

72

Deaths due to malaria per 100,000 2(2008)

-

Deaths due to TB per 100,000 23(2009)

-

Deaths due to HIV/AIDS 170,000(2009)

-

Table 4. Progress towards achieving MDGs in India with goals related to sanitation highlighted in gray.


The Indian government provides free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14. The country is still grappling with serious problems of inadequate access, quality and inefficiency in the schooling system.

The school system in India works through 3 different models:

» Public » Private » Public Private Partnership (PPP)

Public private partnership (PPP) is an approach used by the government to deliver quality services to its population by using the expertise of the private sector. In this arrangement, a private party performs part of the service delivery functions of the government while assuming associated risks. In return, the private party receives a fee from the government according to pre-determined performance criteria. Such payment may come out of the user charges, through the government budget or a combination of both. Broadly, PPP in school education can operate to provide (1) infrastructural services, (2) support services and (3) educational services. The simplest being one in which the private partner provides infrastructure services but the government provides educational and other support services. The second type is where the private sector provides both infrastructure and support services. While the third type is where the private sector provides infrastructure, support and educational services bundled together.

A variety of public private partnership already exists in the field of education, the most common being the government aided schools system in the country. In 2006-07, 30.05% of higher secondary schools and junior colleges, 27.15% of high schools, 6.75% of upper-primary schools, 3.19% of primary schools and 5.15% of pre-primary schools were run by private institutions with substantial financial assistance from the State Government.

Alliances with different NGO’s also play a strong role in assisting the State or the private sector to complement the education system and to improve its effectiveness. The effectiveness of NGO action is best in evidence in the successful schooling of underprivileged children, communities in remote locations, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other children that face social barriers to education.

One of the key challenges of the education system in India is the universalization of good quality basic education. Almost two decades of basic education programs have expanded access to schools in India. The number of out of school children decreased from 25 million in 2003 to an estimated 8.1 million in 2009. Most of those still not enrolled are from marginalized social groups. Two issues remain:

» Reaching some 8 million children not yet enrolled and ensuring retention of all students till they complete their elementary education (8th standard).

» Ensuring education is of good quality so it improves learning levels and cognitive skills. » Also, India still faces challenges in providing quality Early Childhood Development programs for all

children.

The Education System In India Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Schools

Unsafe water and unhygienic conditions not only have an adverse effect on the health of below five year old children but also have an impact on the health, attendance and learning capacities of school children.

The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 emphasized sanitation in schools as a priority action, while the Thirteenth Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in 2005 reiterated this position and also emphasized the need for hygiene education in schools. Providing adequate water and sanitation in schools is essential if the enrollment, learning and retention of girls is to improve, and is key to meeting MDGs 2 and 3. Lack of appropriately private and sanitary facilities has a greater impact on girls than boys, contributing to decisions on whether they ever attend, and then influencing how long they stay in school. Girls sometimes do not attend school during menstruation or drop out at puberty because of a lack of sanitation facilities that are separate for girls and boys. In addition, adolescent girls are particularly at risk of anaemia aggravated by parasitic infections and ‘iron stress’ when sanitation is inadequate or unavailable at school or at home.

All children perform better and have enhanced self-esteem in a clean, hygienic environment. Properly used and maintained sanitation facilities and an adequate supply of water for personal hygiene and hand washing prevent infections and infestations, while also contributing to overall public health and environmental protection. Programs that combine improved sanitation and hand-washing facilities with hygiene education in schools can improve the health of children for life and can promote positive change in communities. Field assessments show that teaching children the importance of hand washing and other good hygiene habits promotes increased knowledge and positive behavior change, especially when the schools are equipped with an adequate number of safe toilets or latrines and sufficient water for washing.

Adolescent girls are particularly at risk of anaemia aggravated by parasitic infections and ‘iron stress’ when sanitation is inadequate

or unavailable at school or at home.


The Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company

Benchmarks

Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)

WASH in Schools

Guardian Microfinance Institution

“Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is an innovative approach for mobilizing communities to build their own toilets and stop open defecation”.

The CLTS approach recognizes that merely building infrastructure and providing toilets does not ensure their usage within a community and often leads to the dependency of these communities on subsidies. Therefore, CLTS focuses on “the behavioral change needed to ensure real and sustainable improvements” by raising awareness, triggering desire for change and supporting communities in taking action and ownership over appropriate local solutions to become open defecation free.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene education in schools (WASH in Schools) is a program for schools within a community that seeks to implement hygiene education in order to enhance the well-being of children and their families.

Call to Action for WASH in Schools 2010 is the result of collaboration between UNICEF and several international partners supporting WASH in Schools programming. It calls on decision makers to increase investments and on concerned stakeholders to plan and act in cooperation so that all children go to a school with child-friendly water sanitation and hygiene facilities.

Gramalaya Urban and Rural Development Initiatives and Network (GUARDIAN) is a microfinance institution (MFI) and a not for profit institution established in 2007 for providing microcredit to the urban and rural poor in order to create household infrastructures on water and toilets.

With the support of nationalized banks, communities, NGO and donor agencies and through women self help groups (SHG) and women joint liability groups (JLG), Guardian is capable of lending credit to the poorer communities for the promotion of water and toilet facilities.

The Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (JUSCO) sets the example for a one-stop integrated urban water system management under a corporate framework. The services cover operation and maintenance of the entire water cycle and include intake, treatment, transportation and distribution of water. In addition, JUSCO maintains a ‘river-to-river’ management through the treatment of wastewater that meets international effluent quality standards.

Many initiatives aiming to improve water supply and sanitation have been tested and applied in India. These include:


Project Goal:Identify opportunity spaces for improving sanitation within the educational sector in India.


Observation


India Trip Program (16th - 26th August)Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Arrive to Mumbai Introductions D4SB and GCL India at The Hub

Leave Mumbai to Satara

School visit #1- Dyan Uday School

School visit #2- Adarsh Vidyalaya

School visit #3- Karamveer Bhaurao Patil Vidyalaya

School visit #4- Bhagvan Mahavir Adarsh Vidyalaya

School visit #5- Madhyamik Vidyalaya

Leave Satara back to Mumbai

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Visit to Sulabh toilet blocks

Teach for India visit

School visit #6- Holy Mother English School

School visit #7- The Divine Child

Community Visit

Chehak Trust visit

School visit #8- Sahyog School in Jari Mari Slum

Sparc visit

Dharavi slum visit

Hub event - a get together with representatives of the social scene in India

The India Field Research Program

For a better comprehension of the sanitation problem in India, we planned our field trip to Mumbai for an intensive 2 week stay of research and observation. Through understanding the context of one of the most pressing problems in India, the problem of sanitation, our objective was to identify opportunity spaces for improving sanitation within the educational sector.

The excursion started off at the rural area of Satara, a city located in Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. We visited 5 schools, talked with the students, teachers, principals, visited their facilities and discussed their problems and needs. After Satara, we headed back to Mumbai, where we got to compare and contrase the differences between the rural and urban areas. We visited several slums in Mumbai and talked with school students, teachers, principals, community leaders, and community members. In addition, we met several NGO’s and organizations that are working on the sanitation problems in India to better understand what is already being implemented.

The following section will describe some of the findings revealed from the interviews and activities that we conducted.

The Rural Area

Table 5. The schedule of our 2 week research in India.


Adarsh Vidyalaya - RahimatpurDyan Uday School - Satara


Bhagvan Mahavir Adarsh Vidyalaya - ThosegarKaranveer Bahurao Patil Vidyalaya - Dhamner


Madhyamik Vidyalaya - Bassappachi Wadi

School General Information

Name of School School Area

School Region

School Mgmnt.

Tuition Fee

School Type

School Level

Midday meals

# of students

# of teachers

1. Dyan Uday School

Rural Satara PPP (receives grants to pay teachers & meals)

Free Mixed, day school (11am-5pm)

Secondary (5th to 10th std.)

Yes, for 5th to 8th std.

160 students (100 boys, 60 girls)

5

2. Adarsh Vidyalaya

Rural Rahimatpur PPP(receives grants to pay teachers & meals)

- Mixed, day school (11am-5pm)

Primary to Secondary (1st to 10th std.)


1500 students

-

3. Karamveer Bhaurao Patil Vidyalaya

Rural Dhamner Public Free Mixed, day school (11am-5pm)


No 300 students (100 boys, 200 girls)

15

4. Bhagvan Mahavir Adarsh Vidyalaya

Rural Thoseghar PPP(receives grants to pay teachers & meals)

Av. 5 Rs./month (depending on cast & level of poverty)

Mixed, day school (11am-5pm)



265 students

-

5. Madhyamik Vidyalaya

Rural Bassappachi Wadi

Public (non-granted school)

Free Mixed, day school (11am-5pm)


Yes 40 students(25 boys and 15 girls)

5

Rural Schools General Information

Table 6. General information from the rural schools visited in Satara.


On Sanitation


School Sanitation InformationLight inside toilet? Which source?

Hand washing facilities on site?

Soap? Drinking water facilities?

Toilets cleaning schedule? By whom?

Is hygiene taught? How?

No, only natural light (the closed toilet is totally dark)

No No No Once a month by a cleaning lady

Yes, it a new program for the 8th std. It is considered a delicate subject

No, only natural light No No Yes Once a day with only water, once a week with disinfectant

Yes, from 7th to 9th standard, women from public centers visits school for hygiene and sexual education

No No No No - No

Yes, windows and artificial lighting

Yes (sinks within each bathroom)

No Yes (one in every floor) Bathrooms are cleaned after the 2 daily breaks and disinfected once a week by 3 male janitors. Naftaline is used in the facilities to keep insects away

Yes, through several boards around the school and lessons

No, urinating facilities are out on the open and squat toilet has a small window

No No Yes The students clean the toilets daily, each class is responsible for one day of the week

Yes, through lessons

School Sanitation InformationSchool Name Toilets inside school Separate toilets for

boys and girls?How many toilets? Indoor or outdoor? Closed or open?

Teachers have separate toilets?

Water for flushing inside toilet (tap)?

Is the (alternative) water source close to the toilet area?

1. Dyan Uday School

Yes Yes girls: 3 outdoor, open, 1 outooor, closed

Yes No, they have to get water with a bucket from a tank

No, it is inside the school, but away from the toilet area

2. Adarsh Vidyalaya

Yes Yes girls: 3 outdoor, open (for urination), 1 outdoor, closed (for defecation) boys: outdoor, open (wall for urination) and 1 outdoor, closed squat toilet (defecation)

No, they use the locked toilet

No, they have to get water with a bucket from a tank

No, it is inside the school, but away from the toilet area

3. Karamveer Bhaurao Patil Vidyalaya

Yes Yes girls: outdoor, open facilities (for urination & defecating) boys: outdoor, open facilities (for urination & defecating)

No No, they have to get water with a bucket from a tank

No

4. Bhagvan Mahavir Adarsh Vidyalaya

Yes Yes girls: 3 squat toilets (indoor, closed) in each of the 3 floors. boys: 3 urinals (indoor, open, separated by walls) and one squat toilet (indoor, closed) in each of the 3 floors

No Not at the time of visit, problems with the water system

Yes

5. Madhyamik Vidyalaya

Yes Yes girls: 3 urinating units (outdoor, open) and 1 squat toilet (outdoor, closed) boys: 3 urinating units (outdoor, open) and 1 squat toilet (outdoor, closed) 1 handicapped toilet

No No, water comes from a separate tank

No

Rural Schools Sanitation Information

Table 7. Information related to sanitation gathered from the rural schools visited in Satara.


Activities Conducted with the Children

School Interviews Additional Notes

One of the bigger schools was funded by the Empathy Foundation of Mumbai. The fund of the trust is managed by a series of business men that give the funding and donations for the construction of different schools (charity model). The money is given to the contractors (1 time deal) which have to build the school and maintain it for 4 years.

In terms of infrastructure, the school had very good interior toilet facilities, one compartment on each of the 3 floors, yet non functional due to a problem in the water pump. Therefore, since 3 months before the time of visit, students had been urinating in the open.

According to the principal of that same school, the number of toilets on site are decided by the government which also provides material for cleaning. According to the government, there should be one toilet seat for every 20 students.

Another school had very poor conditions of their exterior toilet compartment, with lots of worms. The students avoid using the toilets at school and prefer to either wait all day or go to their houses.

Girls usually go to the toilet with a friend to keep an eye. They usually go to the toilet 3 times a day, but a couple of them mentioned that they wait to go home.

One of the schools was started by a trust but the staff salary is not given by the government. They do not have a building. They use a building from another school that was constructed by the government.

During our school visits, we interviewed male and female students of various ages. Due to the sensitivity of the topic being dealt with, we conducted some drawing activities and exercises in order to facilitate the discussion.

We asked the students to:

» Rate from 1 to 10 their toilets at home and at school. » Draw their ideal toilet and its components. » List in order of priority the 5 most essential elements that should be in a toilet. » Enlist the five things that bother them the most of the actual infrastructure.

Drawings From the Activities


Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Schools - Boys Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Schools - Girls

“In my previous school, there were no toilets so we had to go in the open, behind a bush or close to the river. We would also go nearby the houses when people were away. The students that lived close to the school would go home to use the toilet”.

Deepali - 15 years old, 10th standard

“I hate the garbage surrounding the toilets in my school”.

Aniket - 13 years old, 8th standard

“Even though we have to clean our own toilets at school, I don’t mind it because at least I’m doing it with my friends and not alone”.

Ashurni -14 years old, 9th standard

“What I don’t like in my school’s toilets is that there is no soap to wash my hands after using it”.

Gaurav -11 years old, 7th standard

“When I have my period, I find it difficult to find a place where I can dispose my pad. Sometimes I go home to change but then I don’t come back to school”.

Shaavari - 11 years old, 6th standard

“I don’t like my school’s toilets because they smell so bad. There are no doors or windows”.

Chaitanya - 12 years old, 6th standard

“I feel uncomfortable to use the toilet when I have my period, but I have no other choice”.

Priyanka - 14 years old, 9th standard

“I don’t like it when dogs come into the school’s toilet while I’m using it”.

Akshay - 13 years old, 8th standard


Sanitation Priorities and Desires Toilet Infrastructure Problems

Most Desired Elements in a ToiletSchool Name Dyan

Uday SchoolAdarsh Vidyalaya

Karamveer Bhaurao Patil Vidyalaya

Bhagvan Mahavir Adarsh Vidyalaya

Madhyamik Vidyalaya

Total

Infrastructure Item girls (9)

boys (0)

girls (15)

boys (11)

girls (10)

boys (10)

girls (8)

boys (8)

girls (7)

boys (6)

girls boys girls + boys

enclosed compartment 9 . 10 . 6 5 8 8 7 6 40 19 59

water tap 9 . 13 . 7 4 4 8 7 5 40 17 57

handwash / soap 7 . 14 . 7 5 6 4 6 5 40 14 54

door 7 . 10 . 6 5 8 3 0 4 31 12 43

squat toilet 4 . 10 . 6 2 5 4 0 4 25 10 35

sink / basin 3 . 12 . 6 4 7 2 0 1 28 7 35

mirror 1 . 10 . 4 2 8 1 7 0 30 3 33

bucket / mug 7 . 2 . 2 2 4 7 5 2 20 11 31

window 4 . 2 . 0 3 8 1 7 5 21 9 30

light 0 . 7 . 4 0 8 2 5 2 24 4 28

water tank 4 . 7 . 3 1 0 1 2 5 16 7 23

towels / tissue paper 0 . 5 . 4 2 2 1 1 5 12 8 20

brush / broom 1 . 0 . 0 3 5 0 4 0 10 3 13

stairs (elevated) 3 . 1 . 0 1 2 0 3 2 9 3 12

dust bin 0 . 7 . 0 3 1 0 1 0 9 3 12

disinfectants 0 . 0 . 0 4 5 0 3 0 8 4 12

drinking water tank 0 . 0 . 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 5

flooring 0 . 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 4

hangers 0 . 3 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3

urinals 0 . 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1

doormat 0 . 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1

Table 8. The items that the rural students listed in the exercise of what, in their opinion, are the most essential elements a toilet should have.

Smelly Dirty Dark

Invasive

Damaged Uncomfortable

leaking roofs

damaged tiles

Figure 7. The most common problems within the toilet facilities listed by the students.


The Urban Area

“For the people of Jogeshwari a void room in a big city is a greater horror than open gutters and filthy toilets”.

Suketu MehtaMaximum city


SULABH International

Sulabh International is a not for profit organization that works to improve the state of sanitation access through developing facilities and educational programs. One of the main goals of Sulabh is to implement affordable sanitation in order to liberate scavengers, the outcastes responsible for cleaning latrines, and ensure them social integration.

The pay-and-use Sulabh public toilet facilities are usually located in public commercial areas where they charge a small fee for users in order to cover maintenance expenses and recover capital investments. The Sulabh toilet blocks that we visited had separate compartments for men and woman, water and soap access in addition to an attendant that receives the payments.

*Despite the absence of a shower, women would bath and wash clothes using a tap close to the floor (seated)

Toilet Block Information

Toilet Block

Management toilet block?

Cost per use?

Separate toilets for men and women?

Open or closed?

How many toilet seats are there (men/women, urinals/seats)?

Water for flusing inside toilet?

Shower? Hand washing facilities on site?

Soap? Light inside toilet? Source?

Workers in the complex?

Toilet cleaning schedule? By who?

Additional notes

Sulabh Toilet Block #1

Built and maintained by SULABH It works like a private company

Urinals are free. Squat toilets and showers: 2 INR

Yes Closed Men: 6 urinals / 7 seats / 1 shower Women: 3 squat toilets / 1 water basin

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, neon lights

3 people. 1 cashier at the entrance and 2 cleaners

Continuous cleaning by employees

No facilities for handicapped




Yes Closed Men: urinals 0 / 6 seats / 1 shower Women: 3 squat toilets (no shower faciltity but tap and bucket to shower)

Yes No* Yes Yes Yes, neon lights

2 people. 1 cashier at the entrance and 1 cleaner


No facilities for handicapped




Yes Closed Men: urinals 0 / 6 seats / 1 seat toilet for handicap / 2 showers Women: 5 squat toilets / 1 seat toilet with rail for handicap


3 people. 1 cashier at the entrance and 2 cleaners


Toilet block with air-conditioner.Urinating facilities outside the main structure

Toilet Block 1 Toilet Block 2 Toilet Block 3

Table 9. Information related to Sulabh public toilet blocks in Mumbai.


Teach 4 India

Teach for India, a project of the not for profit organization Teach to Lead, is a nationwide movement whose goal is to eliminate educational inequity in the country. It believes that through a movement of outstanding college graduates and young professionals committed to a 2-year full time teaching in under resourced schools, the country will be able to achieve educational equity for children. Teach for India provides the adequate resources, training and support to the teachers, called Fellows, in order to employ innovative teaching strategies and maximize their effectiveness in the classroom. The movement’s objective in the long run is to have a strong leadership force of alumni who regardless of their career path after their 2 years of service, will work together toward eradicating educational inequity in India.

For the interviews we focused on two schools located in the slums of the rural area; Holy Mother English School in Malwani and The Divine Child in Patham Wadi, Malad East. We also had the opportunity to visit three households of three of their students (Anwar, Akram and Tilak). For our interviews we chose the following profiles: teachers, principal, student families and community members.

Holy Mother English School The Divine Child

School General Information

School Name School Area

School Region

SchoolMgmnt.

Tuition Fee

School Type

School Level

Midday meals

# of students

# of teachers

Holy Mother English School Urban Malwani, Mumbai

Private, board of 7 trustees

150 INR (Free for disabled & orphans)

Mixed day school (morning & afternoon shifts of variable duration)

Kindergarten (Junior &

Senior)

Primary & Secondary (1st to 9th std.)

No 707 students

26 (4 TFI fellows)

The Divine Child Urban Pathan Wadi, Mumbai

Private school, unaided

500 INR per month per student

English day school, mixed

- No 800 students

26 (5 TFI fellows)

School Sanitation InformationSchool Name Toilets

inside school?

Separate toilets for girls and boys?

How many toilets? Indoor or outdoor? Closed or open?




Light inside toilet? Which source?



Toilet cleaning schedule? By whom?


Holy Mother English School

Yes Yes girls 1 boys 1

No Yes Yes Yes, there is a light bulb in the girls toilet

No, students use the tap inside the toilet

No Yes - Yes, it a new program for the 8th std. It is considered a delicate subject

The Divine Child Yes Yes girls: 1 squat toilet (indoor, closed)

boys: 3 urinals (indoor, open)

Yes No Close to the girls’ toilet but not the boys

No, only natural light

Yes, wash basins on ground floor

No - - -

Table 10. General information from the urban schools visited in Mumbai.

Table 11. Information related to sanitation gathered from the urban schools visited in Mumbai.


Prabhavati Prajapati, 35 years old, from Nepal married to a man from Nepal who sells plastic in Mumbai. She is Hindu, and has 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl and they all live together in their 12m2 house.

She and her husband moved from Nepal 6 to 7 years ago for employment in Mumbai. They find the life difficult in the city but nonetheless better than Nepal. After coming to Mumbai, she learned more about toilets. In Nepal, they did not have toilets, they would go out in nature. Prabhavati never studied but she is proud that her son goes to school and understands things much better than she does. Her husband studied up until the 8th standard and her son, Tilak, is currently in the 4th standard at The Divine Child school and wants to study up until the ‘last standard’. He is the eldest in the family and wants to become a cricket player.

From 8:00 am to 1:00 pm the Prajapati family has access to potable water from the tap in the bathroom. They have 4 buckets on the side to fill up with water. Prabhavati showed us how she makes a filter manually by tying a cloth around the hose that is linked to the tap. The water coming out of the hose and through the cloth becomes ‘drinkable water’.

The house is a single room, with one bed, one stove and a little ‘bathroom’ with a tap used to shower and wash the utensils. There are no toilets in the house, the public toilets are outside and she goes once a day to the toilet. If she needs to use it at night, her husband accompanies her. They pay 10 INR/month for 24-hour access to the toilet. Her children use the toilets at school since they are cleaner than the public ones in the community.

She would like the public toilets to be clean. Even though the people from the municipality clean the toilets, she doesn’t think they do it well.

They have a TV in their well-kept and clean house, hung diagonally over the bed. The bed is covered with a plastic cover since she also uses it to change her baby’s diapers.

She loves to watch family series on the TV alone and with friends, and in her free time, she gets together with her friends to talk about what they cooked and their favorite TV series.

She would like to have a toilet at home because then she is in control of the cleanliness and hygiene.

It is too difficult for her to choose what her favorite part of the house is because she likes all of it but perhaps the little shrine close to the entrance is closest to her heart.

Anwar is 6 years old and lives with his parents in his house in Malwani. He is in the 2nd standard at the Holy Mother English School and enjoys playing cricket and badminton after school.

Anwar’s house has one main room around 10m2 used as the living, sleeping and cooking space and another small room used for washing and bathing. There is also an additional back room used for storage. The house is also used as the work space for their family business of packaging bracelet boxes.

Near their home, there is a common tap that has running water daily from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm. Each family can gain 10 minute access per day to the tap for a fee of 250 rupees per month. Within the 10 minutes, community members connect a hose to the tap and fill up big tanks to store the water needed for the day.

Akram is 9 years old and is in the 2nd standard at the Holy Mother English School. He lives with his parents and 4 siblings in their house in Malwani.

Akram’s father is a cook in a catering company while his mother looks after the children. Their house constitutes of a main room of about 13m2 used as the living, sleeping and cooking room in addition to a smaller area around 1m2 used for washing and bathing.

Akram’s family uses the communal toilet blocks located about 200m away from the house. The toilet block has 6 compartments and serves around 10 to 15 households, approximately 75 people in total. The peak hours to use the toilet blocks are usually from 7:00 am to 10:00 am when one have to queue to get in. The toilet block does not have separate compartments for men and women and no taps with running water so families have to bring their own water in buckets. The access to the toilet block is free but the communities have to provide the soap and cleaning products in return. Someone from the municipality cleans the block once or twice a week but in general they are not well maintained. Many fights break out in the morning due to members not throwing water after using the toilets.

Prabhavati Prajapati. The Story of a Slum Household Anwar and his Family. Storing Water.

Akram’s Family. Sharing the Toilet.


Chehak Trust

Schools General Info

School Name School Area

School Region

SchoolMgmnt.

Tuition Fee

School Type

School Level

Midday meals

# of students

# of teachers

Sahyog Girls’ School Urban Jari Mari, Mumbai

Private school funded by Chehak Trust

Free Girl school, afternoon (1pm-6pm)

4 levels based on knowledge and skills (age range 15 to 21 years old)

No 25 students

3

Table 14. Information related to sanitation from Sahyog Girls’ School.

Table 13. General information from Sahyog Girls’ School.

Sahyog is a community based education and health initiative of the CHEHAK TRUST that works in two slum areas of Mumbai, Jari Mari: Kurla and Dindoshi, Goregaon.

Its activities are mainly focused on improving access to healthcare and education by collaborating with existing organizations and raising community awareness. One of Sahyog’s initiatives is an education program for adolescent girls who have either never been to school or have dropped out from a previous school. The objective is to empower these girls with a set of skills adequate to lead a better life. The education program is free of charge and requires an admission test in order to place the girls in the appropriate level based on their skills and knowledge rather than their age. In addition to academic skills, the teaching methodology focuses on daily life experiences and community work that enable the girls to develop confidence and understanding of their rights. Sahyog also attempts to build relationships with the families in order to support the girls’ role in the community.

“I give 10/10 for our toilet in school because it is very clean. I give the community public toilet 7/10 in the morning when it is still clean and 2/10 in the evening because it becomes very dirty”.

Alfrin - 16 years old, Sahyog Girls School

Most Desired Elements in a Toilet

InfrastructureElements

# of Times Mentioned(11 girls)

enclosed compartment 10

squat toilet 10

flooring 9

bucket / mug 8

water tap 5

door 4

stairs (elevated) 3

handwash / soap 1

western toilet 1

“I don’t like it when toilets are dirty and smelly and specially not when there are insects and cobwebs!”

Yasmin -16 years old, Sahyog Girls School

Figure 8. The main problems the students from Sahyog Girls’ School experienced in public toilet facilities.

Table 12. The items that the female students from Sahyog School listed in the exercise of what, in their opinion, are the most essential elements a toilet should have.

Schools Sanitation InfoSchool Name Toilets

inside school?

Separate toilets for girls and boys?

How many toilets? Indoor or outdoor? Closed or open?




Light inside toilet? Which source?



Toilet cleaning schedule? By whom?


Sahyog Girls’ School

Yes girl school

girls: 1 squat toilet indoor, closed (for urination)

No Yes Yes Yes, light bulb

Yes, wash basin

Yes no Once a day by cleaner

Yes, as part of the Life skills program

Animals & Insects Smell Dirtiness

Privacy Location

shared compartments

spit



Toilet Block


Cost per use?


Open or closed?







Additional notes

Sahyog Toilet Block

Funded by BombayMunicipalCorp. (public

toilet)

Mgmnt. JaiMaharashtraSeva Trust/Group

Urinals are free. Squat toilets: 2 INR

Yes Closed Men: 3 urinals / 6 seats

Some are working

No No No Yes, 1 neon light

1 cashier at the entrance

Not veryoften, theyare very dirty

Facilities in very bad condition

Table 15. Information related to the Sahyog public toilet block.


The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC)

The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centrers (SPARC) is an NGO that supports the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan in bringing the urban poor together in order to express their concerns and corroboratively seek solutions to the problems they face. Together, these organizations form an alliance which works to improve the lives of slum dwellers in India and around the world through the production of urban development practices and policies. These community-driven practices are focused on building the capacity of organized communities of the urban poor, especially women, in informal settlements to stop forced evictions and develop adequate negotiation skills on their rights for housing, land and basic infrastructure.

We visited one of the Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) of the Dharavi Slum and a toilet block in the neighborhood.


Toilet Block


Cost per use?


Open or closed?







Additional notes

Dharavi Toilet Block

Fundedby WorldBank.Managed& maintainedby the community

Urinals are free.Squattoilets:0.5 INR20 INR perfamily /month

Yes Closed Men: 20 squat toilets Women: 20 squat toilets


1 person (caretaker)

3 times/day: morning, lunch, night

Separate area for children

Table 16. Information related to the Dharavi public toilet block.


Ashansh

Aashansh is a charity-run organization that gives free complementary school support for the children from the Adarsh Megar community. The community is that of pavement dwellers that live with 30/40 rupees a day. Most of the children’s families are fishermen, gamblers or drug dealers. The organization, founded by Ramesh Joshi, an ex-pavement dweller himself, aims at removing children from the streets by providing them with fun education and activities during the evenings in a rented room from a nearby school. We had the opportunity to speak to Ramesh and get to know some of the children that belong to the NGO.

“Education has changed my life”.Ramesh Joshi


Perceptions and Behaviors

Boys

In India, it is not uncommon to not use toilet paper. Toilets in general have access to water, whether in a bucket or through a hose, for cleaning purposes after defecation. As a result, the waste bin is not a common element in toilets either.

Most of the time the urinating facilities for boys are a simple infrastructure on the open (a wall or similar) and in case it is inexistent, it is done in the open.

Defecating facilities are almost always shared the by the entire school and in most cases there is just one.

As for the boys the main issues regarding sanitation are privacy and hygiene. By hygiene we mean maintenance of the toilet facilities as well as access to personal hygiene goods (hand soap, water taps).

Girls

In most of the schools we visited, the toilets for urinating are outside and open with full-time access whereas the toilets used for defecating are locked in order to avoid constant usage and maintain cleanliness. The students need to ask the janitor for the key whenever they need to use it. Therefore, many students avoid using it so as not to go through the hassle of finding the janitor, asking for the key then bringing the key back.

Some of the girls that are on their menstrual cycle avoid coming to school during that period. Some girls that do attend school during their cycle avoid changing pads all day until they get home. Others do change the pad in school but make sure to dispose it away in nature because it is ‘inappropriate’ to dispose it within school territories. The same applies for the female teachers.

Many girls avoid using the toilets in school by making sure they use it at home before leaving and by drinking less fluids during the day. This means an average of 6 hours/day without urinating.

In the schools with toilets in the open, girls usually go with a friend because they are scared of monkeys and snakes.


Synthesis


Problems Related to Toilet Usage

Problems Privacy Hygiene Maintenance Security

Girls Girls avoid using locked toilets for defecating to avoid hassle of asking for, bringing and returning keys X

Girls in menstrual cycle have higher level of absenteeism due to lack of proper facilities X

Girls have difficulties in finding where to dispose pads properly while in school X

Girls go to toilets in the open with friends because they are scared of animals X

Girls feel lack of privacy using toilets at school (open facilities, broken doors...) X

Girls prefer going home to use the toilet rather than using the facilities at school X

General Infrastructures lacking enclosed compartments X X

Poor maintenance of infrastructure X

No on-site access to water for flushing X X

Absence of means for flushing X X

Children cannot wash their hands after using the toilet (hand wash, sink, towels, tissue paper) X

Toilet facilities are often surrounded by garbage X

Presence of animals and insects within the toilet facilities (monkeys, snakes, worms, flies...) X X X

Defecating facilities lack of proper ventilation and lighting X X

Schools cannot ensure a constant water supply X X

Schools do not provide the proper means to keep the toilet facilities clean (brush/broom, disinfectants, garbage bin...) X X

Toilet facilities do not have appropriate floor to keep them clean X

Toilet facilities lack squatting slabs X

Toilet facilities do not have a proper sewage/water system X

Problems, Needs and Key Success Factors Problems, Needs and Key Success Factors

Key Success Factors Privacy Hygiene Maintenance Security

Continuous availability to water within school facilities X

Continuous accessibility to potable and safe drinking water within school facilities X

Proper toilet facilities and infrastructures within school facilities X X X

Continuous high level maintenance of toilet facilities within schools X

Accessibility to a safe and hygienic toilet environment within school facilities X

Proper waste collection and management within school facilities X X

Appropriate black water sewage system and management within school facilities X X

Needs Related to Toilet Usage

Needs Privacy Hygiene Maintenance Security

Girls Girls need to be able to go to the bathroom whenever they feel the need X X

Girls need proper / hygienic means for proper disposal of sanitary pads X

Girls need to have private and safe individual spaces to go to the toilet X X

General Children need privacy when going to the toilet X

Children need access to water for washing hands after using the toilet X

Toilet facilities need to have water for flushing and the means to do so X

Toilet facilities need to be cleaned regularly X X

Toilet infrastructure needs to be properly maintained (doors, tiles, roofs) X

Toilet facilities need to be placed within a clean environment X X

Closed compartments need proper ventilation and lighting / electricity X

Schools need to ensure constant water supply X

Schools need to ensure proper supplies for cleaning / disinfecting toilet facilities X X

Schools need to provide potable water and its relevant infrastructure X

Schools need to provide appropriate toilet infrastructure X

Schools need to have proper waste water management systems X X

* extra commodities: doormat + hangers** curious information (not problem): the need of a mirror within toilets is important especially for the boys

Table 17. The table highlights the main problems encountered by students using toilet facilities in schools and the criteria that best describe the nature of the problem.

Table 18. The table highlights the main needs of students while using toilet facilities in schools and the criteria that best describe the nature of the need.

Table 19. The table highlights the key success factors for improving toilet facilities in schools and the criteria that best describes the nature of the factor.


The sanitation problems and needs of students identified throughout our research and observation are the foundation of which solutions must be built on. The key success factors cluster the problems and needs into the major themes where the opportunities lie.

In order to explore the opportunity spaces for providing solutions to the identified problems, one brainstorming tool we use is to ask ourselves ‘how might we’ questions. The questions below serve as a trigger to ideate for product, services or system solutions regarding the sanitation problems in Indian schools.

improve the hygienic experience of girls and boys using school toilets?make the concept of hygiene more comprehensible and accessible to school students? integrate educational and fun hygiene programs in school systems?empower teachers’ role in influencing hygienic procedures in schools?make hygienic products more accessible in schools?

Opportunity SpacesWater Management

Safety & Privacy Network & Community

Infrastructure & MaintenanceWaste Management

Personal Hygiene

filter and reuse water in rural schools?create a closed water circuit?diversify water source?guarantee good maintenance of the water facilities?collect rainwater and store it for daily use?design easily refillable water tanks to be placed near toilets?

provide schools with on-site waste management systems?generate awareness on proper disposal of sanitation pads?design a friendly and hygienic system for sanitation pad disposal in schools?remodel the Indian way of waste removal (burning garbage) in an environmental friendly approach?

make use of local material to build proper toilet infrastructures?provide a good-quality low-cost toilet module for rural schools?create awareness on the consequences of poor sanitation in day-to-day life?motivate and empower people responsible of cleaning and maintaining toilets?transform the activity of cleaning toilets to be more fun and rewarding?develop the students’ sense of ownership on their school toilets for better maintenance? empower students to have a bigger impact on maintaining cleanliness on school toilets?establish a network of partners/suppliers of basic hygiene products (soaps, hand sanitizer, cleaning products…) to provide to schools?

provide a safe toilet environment where animals are not a threat?ensure privacy of toilet users, especially female users?design alternatives to traditional locked toilet doors?

enhance schools’ influential role within communities to create awareness on sanitation? design a community based savings and financing system that invests on basic sanitation infrastructure?design an affordable and efficient public toilet cleaning service within the community?


Projections


Projections

As our desktop research has shown and our field trip has proven, the sanitation problem in India remains very dominant today. A problem as big as sanitation, governed by politics, bureaucracy and corruption, is definitely a challenging problem to tackle. An ultimate solution for the interdependent sanitation system probably requires the collaboration of many different stakeholders and a major reconstruction of the country’s infrastructure. To reach such a solution might seem overwhelming.

However, as Prof. Yunus advocates in his book Building Social Business, starting small is key and “if your work has a positive impact on five or ten people, you have invented a seed. Now you can plant it a million times”. (p.21) We believe that education is an essential starting point and a main channel of penetration to tackle most social problems. In a country that values education as much as India does, schools have a fundamental role in influencing healthy habits and environments. By developing new perceptions, behaviors and habits on hygiene and sanitation in schools, the change of attitude in students would soon be reflected within whole communities.

Taking into consideration all that we have learned and observed from our desktop and field research, and going back to the “how might we” questions introduced in our document, a future outlook for this project would be to ideate on possible and feasible solutions that address the sanitation problem in India, starting small, starting local and most importantly starting with the users’ point of view.


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