Healthy Schools Manual

This manual is a practical guide to hygiene (which includes toilet use and cleaning practices) and water supplies for elementary schools in Eritrea. It is proven that children perform better in school when they have a healthy learning environment. If children drink clean water, and use toilets instead of open spaces they will reduce the spread of illness. Good school hygiene will also spread good hygiene practices to their homes and to the wider community.

The objectives of this manual are to:

• raise awareness of the links between hygiene and health;
• provide information on how to improve toilet use and cleaning practices;
• provide information on how to improve existing school water supplies.

This manual can be used by school directors or members of parent teacher associations (PTAs) to maintain water, sanitation and hygiene in the school.

Elementary schools in Eritrea and their physical environments vary greatly depending on their location. For this reason, we hope that the users of this manual are able to adapt this information to suit their own school environment.

This book can be used at parent teacher meetings or by school directors to increase awareness and generate discussion on the links between hygiene and health. There are many actions that can be taken by directors, PTA and community members to improve hygiene and water supplies in schools. The information can be used to motivate your school to make both behavioural and physical changes to improve school hygiene and water supplies. While the path towards becoming a hygienic school is a challenging one, each step towards encouraging good hygiene habits in Eritrean students is a step closer to a healthy and educated community.