2023-11-22 20:19:55
Today Yolanda will not go to school, nor did she go to school yesterday. She will once more stay at home, she will support her mother and play with her younger brother. Only in the followingnoon, when the sun goes down, will she walk to a classmate’s house to find out regarding the homework her teacher left behind.
She does not miss classes because she is sick, but she assures that her absences are common, occurring once a month since last year. Her mother, who supports her absence from school, says that it all began with the arrival of her first menstrual period.
Although he received education regarding his biological cycle at home, the precarious infrastructure at his school is insufficient. Located in a township of Uribia, in La Guajira, the institution constantly lacks water and paper, essential resources to live your health and menstrual hygiene in an intimate and comfortable way.
Yolanda’s school is part of the 60 percent of rural institutions in the country that do not have constant drinking water, according to the Welbin Index. This report recently presented the results of 2023.
The index evaluates the preparation of schools to offer safe and healthy spaces to their students. Five dimensions are analyzed: coexistence and inclusion, mental health, sexuality, healthy eating and living, and, finally, security. This year, 1,476 schools were analyzed in all departments of the country, except for Amazonas. The results group the institutions into high, medium or low average, and the national average was 55 points.
The gap between rural and urban areas is evident. Only 2.8% of the rural schools evaluated obtained a high score, that is, 42 schools. In contrast, 278 urban schools, 19% of those examined, achieved this classification.
The rest of the 384 rural schools evaluated, 26% of the total, achieved a low and medium classification. Meanwhile, 52% of urban institutions fell into these categories, totaling 772 schools.
Other revealing data from the report are water collection and access to sinks and toilets. 13% use rainwater to meet their needs, and 14% use groundwater or surface water. In addition, 2 out of 10 rural schools lack water provision for handwashing, or, if they do have it, it is limited. In urban schools the figure is 1 in 10.
The Welbin Index also highlighted that 62% of educational institutions consistently provide soap for handwashing, a finding that reflects the common situation suffered by students like Yolanda.
Furthermore, another study carried out by Unicef Colombia in 2017 showed that 86% of girls and adolescents are absent from school during their menstruation. According to the study, the poor condition of the bathrooms and the lack of privacy and cleanliness, among other factors, lead students to avoid using them.
Unicef also declares, in its manifesto “Hygiene and Health in your School”, that one toilet for every 25 girls is sufficient for school infrastructure. This proportion is equal to the Colombian Technical Standard NTC 4595 on Planning and Design of School Facilities and Environments. However, according to the results of the Welbin Index, in official schools there is an average of 42 students for each functional toilet, and in rural schools the average figure is 32 students for each functional toilet.
The director of Welbin, Daniel Tobón, recognizes that the results of the 1,476 schools presented are not a representative sample of the country as they are not divided by regions or departments. However, he points out that “our evidence has shown that one of the main reasons why students are absent are school health situations.”
Although you might think that infrastructure is a determining factor for the well-being and health of students like Yolanda, in reality it is just the surface of a deeper problem.
A significant financial investment to ensure that all schools, whether rural or urban, have access to decent and safe sanitation facilities is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Effective strategies are also essential to guarantee basic supplies such as constant water, paper, soap and hygiene of spaces.
The presence of toilets and sinks simply marks the beginning of a broader solution: the opportunity to educate boys and girls in schools across the country from a hygiene and health approach. This is a call to action, to accept vital commitments to directly transform the education and well-being of students.
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