There has been a global drive to
make schools conductive for children. The drive has led to efforts geared
towards creating a child friendly schooling environment. A child friendly
school environment basically is a school where the learning environment is
conducive, the health and safety of the children are adequately met. To create
a conducive learning environment for effective teaching and learning certain
facilities must be provided in schools. One of those basic facilities is the
provision of safe water and other sanitation facilities in schools. The absence
of those basic facilities in schools according to research findings have led to
school being un-conducive for teaching and learning.
This has resulted to
children staying away from schools on frequent occasions and sometimes dropping
out of schools completely. It leads to the spread of water borne diseases such
as typhoid, guinea worm, dysentery etc as children resort to drinking from any
source of water point while in school.
The need to retain children in
school through provision of safe water points is obvious. There is a popular
adage which states that “water is life”. Therefore, if the above statement is
correct, children obviously must drink clean safe water while in school. It is
true that some parents sometimes provide their wards with water, while coming
to school, but there are still some other parents who cannot afford to provide
their children with safe water.
This is the reason why government has to assist
by providing safe water points in schools: this will enable every child to have
a secure source of safe water supply in school. It will also check the
incidence of children either absenting themselves from school or dropping out
of school as a result of absence of safe water supply. It also will help to
check the spread of some common water borne diseases. Furthermore, if children
drink safe water in schools it will reduce the frequency of their feeling ill
caused by drinking of unsafe water.
Moreover, their attendance to school
will increase, and there will be reduction in school drop-out. It also will
help in reduction of the cost on health by parents. The money that hitherto
would be used in treatment will be channeled into other useful and productive
venture.
The emphasis on this proposal is on
providing water points that are cheap and can easily be maintained. The water
harvester does not need electricity or other machines to collect and store
water. The state falls within heavy rain region of the country. There is hardly
any month in a year that there will not be at least one rainfall. Therefore,
when natural water is harvested and filtered, it becomes available and safe for
children to use all year round.
Therefore if this proposal is
accepted and funded, it will go a long way in helping to make the school
conductive for children in order to promote effective teaching and learning.