NAN-AE-10
Water
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, Feb. 8, 2017 (NAN) Mrs Maryanne Anuforo, Project Coordinator, Gender Rights Advocates, has called on all tiers of government to improve the people’s access to potable water, particularly in the rural areas.
Anuforo told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday said that the advice became imperative because the time, which most girls often wasted in looking for drinkable water every day, had hindered their school attendance.
She stressed that the importance of the water factor in education could not be overemphasised, as many young girls were encumbered with the routine task of looking for water in most rural communities.
Anuforo also bemoaned the situation in which some schools lacked drinking water sources, flush toilets or hand-wash sinks, saying that such scenarios were common in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Children’s education suffers greatly from the dearth of safe water and sanitation facilities, as students usually use valuable class time to fetch water from places that far the school.
“Sometimes, the paths are dangerous for the children; they have to carry jugs that are far too heavy for them and this affects the development of their spines as they grow,’’ she said.
The project coordinator said that many school hours were lost to water-related illnesses, adding that unsafe water often caused severe outbreaks of diarrheal disease.
“Diarrhea is one of the most deadly diseases for children in the developing world.
“Improper waste disposal and lack of water for proper hand washing perpetuates diseases such as cholera, typhoid, trachoma, and hepatitis.
“Sometimes, these diseases provoke school closures, making education impossible in some rural areas,” she added.
On water and sanitation facilities, Anuforo said that in many cases, young girls dropped out of school whenever they reached puberty because the lack of privacy or separate facilities for females in the schools.
She said over 50 per cent of young girls, who dropped out of school in the rural areas, did so because of poor water and sanitation facilities in the schools.
“Water is intimately linked with education and gender equality. Girls who have to spend a lot of time in gathering water for the family tend not to be in school.
“And wherever the schools have sanitation facilities, attendance is higher, especially for girls.”
Anuforo, however, called for the construction of improved latrines and the provision of safe water in schools, saying that this would boost the school attendance of students, particularly girls.
She stressed that if the schools were able to provide basic water and sanitation facilities for students, the schools would become assets to the communities and tools for development.
Anuforo also underscored the need to equip children with the knowledge on safe water and sanitation issues.
She said that this would enable the children to share the knowledge they acquired with their families. (NAN)
TAK/BOLA/OOK
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Edited by Bola Akingbehin and Dayo Komolafe