Certain sanitation technologies are more likely than others to hygienically separate human excreta from student contact. These are categorized by the JMP as “improved” sanitation facilities, while others are labelled as “unimproved,” following the same definitions and categories used for household-level monitoring. Question S1 asks about the most common type of student toilet or latrine at the school to provide a general sense of how well school sanitation facilities support hygienic separation of human waste from user contact. The recommended response categories are based on JMP categories of “improved” and “unimproved” sanitation.
Since the presence of a toilet or latrine does not necessarily indicate that children are able or likely to use it, Question S2 aims to understand if there are usable student toilets or latrines at the school, where usable is defined as available, functional and private. The number of toilets is requested in question S2 based on the common interest of national governments to track students per toilet ratios.
Question S3 solicits information about single-sex toilets.
RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q)
QS1: What type of student toilets/latrines are at the school? (select the most common one only)
Response options should be modified to reflect the local context and terminology such that responses are able to be categorised into "improved", "unimproved" or "none" An "improved" sanitation facility is one that hygienically separates human excreta from human contact.: flush/pour-flush toilets / pit latrines with slab / composting toilets / pit latrines without slab / hanging latrines / bucket latrines / no toilets or latrines
QS2: How many students' toilets / latrines are currently usable (available, functional, private)?
Response: insert the number of holes/cubicles which meet the definition of "usable" - only count latrines that are usable at the time of the survey or questionnaire, where “usable” refers to toilets/latrines which are (1) available to students (doors are unlocked or a key is available at all times), (2) functional (the toilet is not broken, the toilet hole is not blocked, and water is available for flush/pour-flush toilets), and (3) private (there are closable doors that lock from the inside and no large gaps in the structure) at the time of the questionnaire or survey. If any of these three criteria are not met, the toilet/latrine should not be counted as usable. However, lockable toilets may not be applicable in pre-primary schools.
QS3 Are the toilets / latrines separate for girls and boys? Single-sex toilets means that separate girls’ and boys’ toilets
are available at the school, or it is a single-sex school and has toilets. To be considered separate, facilities should provide privacy from students of the opposite sex, but this definition should be further defined based on local context, as needed. For schools that have separate shifts for girls and boys (i.e. girls attend the school at a separate time from boys), depending on local culture, the response could be “yes” since at the time of use, the toilets are only for girls.
This question may not be applicable in pre-primary schools.
Response options: yes / no
