The sustainability and impact of school sanitation, water and hygiene education in southern India

Kochurani Mathew; Suma Zachariah; Kathleen Shordt; Marielle Snel; Sandy Cairncross; Adam Biran; Wolf-Peter Schmidt

doi:10.3362/1756-3488.2009.029

The sustainability and impact of school sanitation, water and hygiene education in southern India

For at least 50 years ‘hygiene education’ or more currently ‘hygiene promotion’ campaigns in schools, along with ‘school sanitation’ have been an unquestioned ‘essential element’ of water and sanitation promotion. This study describes a set of findings and conclusions that call into question the ‘obvious logic’ of school hygiene and sanitation promotion as currently practised. The overwhelming majority of ‘trained’ pupils do not in fact wash their hands with soap after using the toilet and before eating (even though the importance of such practices is well established and has almost certainly been emphasized in hygiene classes) and open defecation still appears to be relatively widespread even in intervention schools. This research therefore presents important findings for water, sanitation and hygiene in general and in the schools sector.

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The sustainability and impact of school sanitation, water and hygiene education in southern India

Factors Associated With Pupil Toilet Use in Kenyan Primary Schools

Approaches to promote handwashing and sanitation behaviour change in low‐ and middle‐income countries: a mixed method systematic review

A Systematic Review of Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) as a Human Right for Adolescents Girls

A qualitative comparative analysis of well-managed school sanitation in Bangladesh

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The Sustainability and Scalability of Private Sector Sanitation Delivery in Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Mixed Methods Follow Up of a Randomized Trial in Nairobi, Kenya

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Sustaining school hand washing and water treatment programmes: Lessons learned and to be learned

Comparing Sanitation Delivery Modalities in Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Randomized Trial in Nairobi, Kenya

Do separate female toilets in primary and upper primary schools improve female enrollment? A case study from India

The impact of sanitation interventions on latrine coverage and latrine use: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Sustaining an elementary school-based hygiene intervention in Bangladesh by forming ‘hygiene committees’: a pilot study

Water, sanitation, and primary school attendance: A multi-level assessment of determinants of household-reported absence in Kenya

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