The Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Future Programme is currently under way in 50 Northern Cape schools

IN 2014, the WRC sought to understand why school sanitation was failing with a focus on rural areas, which are served by pit toilets. This was in response to an unfortunate incident involving a child drowning in a school latrine; an incident that has again occurred in 2018.

The study undertaken by Partners in Development, a Pietermaritzburg development engineering firm, showed that infrastructure provision not accompanied by an adequate management programme resulted in failure, even if that infrastructure was relatively new.

It further showed principals are faced with the challenge of using their budget to provide the necessary tools for educating children. Within this budget, a portion needs to be used to keep toilet facilities hygienic. However, this is not ring-fenced.

Partners in Development developed a school sanitation management model and provided for necessary training manuals and cleaning protocols, which could be used to empower the principals on how to use a portion of his/her existing budget to keep toilet facilities hygienic. The products developed by Partners in Development also included a guideline of what kind of toilets are available and other associated fixtures, also, what the pros and cons are for each choice.

“We realised that we needed to assist principals to set aside a budget for regular cleaning, but also identified a need for hygiene education on how best to clean toilets and fixtures.

“The model we developed aimed at creating an in-school health and safety manager, which would be a teacher and a health and safety officer, which would be the cleaner that would report to the school principal.

“The model we developed therefore took into consideration the available budget that a school has,” said Jeanette Pretorius from Partners in Development.

Through the WRC funding, a pilot programme was tested using the new management model in eight different schools under the jurisdiction of the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department, which recognised the potential of the new management model. In each school, the following were assigned: A health and safety officer who was the school cleaner, a health and safety manager who served as a staff member, and the principal who oversees all aspects.

Partners in Development provided for the training of the health and safety officer to ensure that they are adequately equipped and protected during their duties and have enough tools and supplies to do the job. Consumables such as toilet paper, pads and liquid hand soap were budgeted for on a monthly supply basis in the beginning of the programme to ensure that pupils hygiene is protected.

A cleaning protocol was established to ensure the toilets are clean and free of disease transmission potential on a daily basis.

The protocol recommended that the toilets are cleaned three times per day with focus being put on areas that are considered germ “hot spots”.

The programme also encouraged schools to come up with creative ways to engage pupils in the monitoring of their toilets and how disease transmission occurs.

After the success of the school sanitation pilot programme by the WRC, there was a need to then take the model developed and the findings, and pilot them in a larger scale in order to achieve sustainable sanitation in schools.

With recent alarming events of schoolchildren drowning in pit latrines, Unilever recognised the urgent need to contribute to pupils rights to health, safety and dignity at schools. Through the Domestos Schools Programme, Unilever, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education and Partners in Development, launched “The Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Future Programme” that aimed at improving management and maintenance of sanitation facilities in schools and further increasing awareness of good sanitation and hygiene practices.

Ant Borstlap, senior brand manager of Domestos, said, “Unilever recognises that the lack of sanitation has a major hindrance on our communities and their health.

“We believe that this problem can be solved by partnerships with the public sector.

“As part of our global efforts, Unilever is a key partner along with the WRC on the Toilet Board Coalition, a unique business-led partnership aimed at tackling the sanitation challenge.

In South Africa, we saw an opportunity to partner with the Department of Education and Partners in Development to provide clean and hygienic school facilities.

“As part of our continued fight to provide hygienic sanitation, we recently launched the Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Future Programme.

“We are stepping up our efforts and are now focused on educating school staff and cleaners on how to keep their toilets clean on an ongoing basis, as they continue to practise good hygiene habits.

“We have once again partnered with the department and the engineering consultancy, Partners in Development who are conducting the four-week training and will be managing the programme.

“The Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Future Programme is currently under way in 50 Northern Cape schools and 100 KwaZulu-Natal schools. Through the Domestos brand, we will provide a behaviour programme educating the principals and pupils on the need and benefits of improved hygiene and sanitation, as well as encourage a collaborated effort by all stakeholders to ensure that school sanitation facilities are maintained.”

Jeanette Pretorius Neethling, the young engineer facilitating the training for Partners in Development said: “After completion of a four-week training course, cleaners will clean the toilets at least once daily, based on a set guidelines that we developed through the WRC.

“Schools will safely secure cleaning materials and equipment to minimise material and equipment losses and track cleaning activities using administrative forms and verbal communication with the principal.

“They will also inspect the toilets regularly to address needs timeously.

“The principal will be required to monitor the programme and sanitation management, and must meet with the cleaner weekly to ensure that he/she has all the resources to maintain the toilets”.

Pretorius was the lead researcher for the WRC project that looked at piloting this novel sanitation management model.

Pillay is Research Manager at the Water Research Commission.