School children in Abuja, the federal capital territory of Nigeria, still defecate in the open field because there are no functional toilet facilities within the school premises. Seun DUROJAIYE visited some of the schools in the Abuja communities and brought this report.

IT was break time at L.E.A School Chukuku, when a young girl, Blessing Udeh, hurried towards a building in the school premises, squatted and urinated on the floor. Within minutes, over four students had followed suit, each picking different spots around the same building, originally designed to be a pit latrine but now abandoned.

L.E.A School Chukuku, located in the Gwagwalada-Kuje axis of the Federal Capital Territory, has a population of 1,049 students with more girls than boys. Though the school has several blocks of classrooms, there are no functional toilets for the students to use.

There are three toilets in the school. One is reserved for teachers. Of the other two meant for students, one is kept under lock and key due to lack of water, while the only accessible toilet, a pit latrine, is in unusable condition.

Therefore, students can only do their business on the floor within the school premises, and, if need be, walk further into a nearby bush to defecate.

For young female students who have started menstruating, the condition is more awful. One of them, Dorcas, 13, who is in grade 6, told this reporter that there is no provision for sanitary towels and therefore she uses a rag during her period. And when she is pressed in school, she arms herself with a sheet of paper, secures a spot in the bush nearby and does her business. There is usually no water available to clean up, as there is no borehole or water reservoir in the school. Student of L.E.A Chukuku urinating within school premises.

“I use rag during my menses and anytime I want to use the toilet, I go into the bush,” Dorcas said shyly. On several occasions, she has had to leave the school premises for home so she can clean up, a journey of about 25 minutes. Therefore, she sometimes misses classes, especially when in her period. When nature comes calling, all students in L.E.A Chukuku, like Dorcas, either take to the bush or go home.

“We give them tips on how to manage the situation when defecating in the bush. We tell them to be careful and ask them to watch the spots in the bushes they use and we always advice them to wear their shoes so they don’t catch infections,” says Margaret Achine, acting headmistress (administration) of L.E.A Chukuku. With over a thousand students under her, Achine works hard every day to ensure her students get good education and stay safe while in school. She said the children find it difficult to use the toilets because of the bad state they are in. Some villagers contribute to the deplorable condition of the school toilet.

According to Achine, some locals gain access to the school premises, misuse the toilets and leave them messy. She says it is more worrying that the school has no healthcare facilities to handle infections that might arise from children’s exposure to the unhygienic environment.

“The school doesn’t have a clinic, we only have a first aid box which we use in assisting the students when they get injured but when there is any issue that we can’t treat with the first aid box, we take them to the clinic in the area.” said Achine when asked how sick children are cared for in the school. With no access to water or functional toilets, learning is not as easy and is mostly hindered. Other times, lack of toilet facilities not only impedes education but exposes children to diseases that can cause irreparable damage or, in a case of inadequate healthcare, even death.

The reality is no different for students of L.E.A School Kwaita Tsoho, another public school located in Abaji Area Council, Abuja. The school, established in September 1993, comprises of two blocks of classrooms that accommodate 220 pupils. The two blocks of classrooms, already dilapidated, sit on a vast portion of land. The roofs have caved in, letting rainfall directly into the classrooms, creating a pool of mosquito-ridden water. A structure built to serve as a toilet lacks facilities and is filled with bushes, broken tiles, and stands as a hub for reptiles.

“The school has no toilets. Pupils, teachers and non-teaching staff use the bush for urinating and ‘shitting’; therefore, the compound is polluted,” said Saidu Saliu, headmaster of L.E.A School Kwaita Tsoho. Due to lack of toilet facilities, exposure to faeces and use of indiscriminate water, Saliu has watched his pupils fall ill on many occasions, causing them to miss school to battle for their lives.

Headteacher L.E.A School Kwait Tsoho, Saidu Saliu speaking on the practice of open defecation in his school. Photo: Legit.ng. Source: Original “Actually, children fall sick often due to the polluted compound and exposure to faeces they easily catch cough and we have had cases of cholera,” Saliu said. Just like L.E.A School, Chukuku, L.E.A School Kwaita Tsoho has no clinic. In fact, when children fall sick, they are rushed to the primary healthcare centre in Kwaita Hausa, a 30-minute drive by car on a long length of untarred road. By foot, it could take more than an hour, depending on how fast a person walks.


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