Integrity Journal of Education and Training Volume 3(4), pages 83-94, October 2019 Article Number: 6C5671383 ISSN: 2636-5995 https://doi.org/10.31248/IJET2019.052 https://integrityresjournals.org/journal/IJET Full Length Research Female students’ perceived self-esteem based on availability of sanitary facilities among public secondary schools in Monduli District, Tanzania Mesha Pius Singolyo 1 and Baraka Manjale Ngussa 2 * 1 Student, Master of Arts in Educational Management, University of Arusha, Tanzania. 2 Associate Professor of Curriculum and Teaching, University of Arusha, Tanzania. *Corresponding author. Email: ngussathe5th@gmail.com Copyright © 2019 Singolyo and Ngussa. This article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Received 7th October, 2019; Accepted 29th October, 2019 ABSTRACT: This study sought to describe and establish correlation between female students’ perceived self-esteem and availability of sanitary facilities among public secondary schools in Monduli District through descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. Using survey design, data were collected through questionnaire whereby purposive and simple random sampling determined 320 female students from 8 schools to participate. Validity and reliability of above 0.7 Cronbach’s alpha were established through expert judgment and statistical analysis respectively. The study concluded that amount of water supply is adequate and constant in schools although water taps for hand washing were nonexistent. School toilets did not have doors and locks for privacy. They were not clean and neat and there were no disposal bins for menstrual pads in the toilets. Further, there is limited access to soaps and sanitation facilities for hand washing. However, students perceived existence of good sanitation and hygienic condition in their schools and considered themselves to be self-esteemed. There is a significant positive relationship between self-esteem and sanitation and hygiene and between quality of toilets and availability of water. Therefore, there is need for schools to fix water taps for hand washing in order to enhance sanitation and hygiene condition and improve health of female students. There is also need for schools to fix doors and locks in school toilets for privacy and safety, disposal bins for used menstrual pads and soaps and sanitation facilities for effective hand washing. Keywords: Female students, hygiene, Monduli, sanitation, self-esteem, Tanzania, toilet, water. INTRODUCTION Self-esteem is defined by various authors in various ways. According to Fiest (2006) in Gancia and Santiago (2017), for instance, it is a self-evaluative part of the self-concept, the judgment the children make about their overall worth. Olea et al. (2012) further consider it as a personal opinion of an individual about herself/himself and the appreciation of his/her worth or an accurate, justified and balanced appreciation of one’s worth as a person and it is literally measured by how much value people place on themselves and it is the evaluative component of self-knowledge. According to Emler (2001), self-esteem is defined as a favourable opinion of oneself. It is an essential aspect for students’ academic success. According to Igomu and Muyange (2013) in Makewa and Ngussa (2017), self-esteem is one of influential factors which can affect student’s personal development. Importance of self-esteem is further explained by Blascovich and Tomaka (1991) in Olanrewaju and Joseph (2014, p. 170) who consider it as “an essential component of good mental health, an individual’s sense of his or her value or worth or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself.” Olanrewaju and Joseph (2014) quote Coopersmith (1967, 1981) who defines self-esteem as a “set of attitudes and beliefs that a person brings with him or herself when facing the world, including beliefs as to whether he or she can