Journal of Natural Sciences Research www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3186 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0921 (Online) Vol.7, No.10, 2017 78 Assessment of Toilet Facilities in Selected Secondary Schools within Maiduguri Metropolitan, North Eastern Nigeria Mustapha Adam Kolo 1 Moses Mshelia 2 Muhammad Chutiyami 3 * 1. Department of Geography, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria 2. Musari Ward, Opp. Mobell Primary School, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria 3. Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Midwifery Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigeria Abstract Toilet facilities among other things, is considered a basic requirement in every school environment to cater for both emotional and physical needs of the students. This study aimed to assess toilet facilities in selected public and private secondary schools within Maiduguri Metropolis, Borno state. Ten secondary schools (5 public and 5 private) were purposively sampled for the study. An interview schedule comprising of thirty (30) structured questionnaires was administered in each of the sampled schools making a total of three hundred (300) respondents. The findings of the study reveals that most of the schools especially the privately owned schools have a high number of students-toilet ratio, with schools such as MCS and FBS having as high as 1:387 and 1:295 respectively which is above the required standard of 1:30 of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education. All the schools have the necessary inventory expected in a normal school setting even though not in sufficient quantity, except lighting which was only available in ECIT. It was further observed that most of the students (61.7%) practice the habit of hand washing with soap/detergent after toilet use. Similarly, majority of the students (60.7%) mostly from the boarding schools were practicing open defecation. Student T-Test was carried out to compare the toilet facilities between the public schools and the private schools. The result showed a value of (0.086) which is not significant at p value of <0.005. It was concluded that both public and private schools in Maiduguri do not have sufficient toilet facilities. It is thus recommended that the Federal Ministry of Education should put effort towards ensuring schools meet the minimum standard set out by the ministry. Keywords: Toilet, facility, Secondary school, Maiduguri, Nigeria 1.0 INTRODUCTION Secondary Schools, especially public schools in Nigeria, experience a number of infrastructural challenges, one of which is poor/inadequate toilet facilities (Weidner, 2009; Agbo et al., 2012; Shehu et al., 2013). Provision of toilet facilities is considered a privilege rather than a necessity by most school authorities, which leads to failure in their roles to promote the health and safety of the students. Most attention is directed toward academic pursuits of the students despite the health consequences associated with poor toilet infrastructures. These health implications could be physical, emotional or psychological in nature, which eventually results in disease conditions such as Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH), typhoid fever, dysentery, diarrhoeas, cholera, hookworm, ascariasis, viral hepatitis, schistosomiasis, genito-urinary tract infections and depression among others (Burton, 2013; Nock, Duniya, & Galadima, 2003; Curtis et al., 2000; Bern et al., 1992; Black et al., 1989). The lack of adequate, well fitted and segregated sanitation facilities at schools discourages a number of Nigerian girls from attending full time education system, which consequently affect their academic performance and perpetuate gender inequity (Save the Children, 2009; Herz and Sperling, 2004; Lidonde, 2005). In 2001, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with WHO took the initial step by conducting a Rapid Assessment of School Health Systems in Nigeria to ascertain the status of school health. The assessment noted the several health problems among learners, the lack of health and sanitation facilities in schools, and the need for urgent action in school health (Federal Ministry of Education, FME, 2006). In line with this, the following standards were set for schools, which include: the toilet facilities shall be gender sensitive for learners and staff, constructed compartmentalized Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines, where appropriate, Water Closet (WC) facilities is encouraged. There should be at least a toilet compartment for every 30 learners, and schools shall provide fitted urinal for boys. Adequate and separate bathrooms for males and females especially in boarding schools must be adequately provided. It is also expected that toilet and bath be kept clean, disinfected and controlled against pests at all times (Federal Ministry of Education, FME, 2006). A previous study in this field was by Njodi et al., (1992), which revealed that boarding secondary schools in Borno State of Nigeria have a student-toilet ratio which goes as high as a toilet facility to ninety (90) students. This reveals inadequacy in toilet facilities when compared to the required standard of Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education. Lighting and adequate ventilation was also found to be a major problem in the secondary schools which has severe consequence on teaching learning process. This study on the other hand attempts to bridge a gap, by exploring the current situation of the schools’ toilet facilities and comparing facilities between public and private secondary schools in the study area. brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals