Poster series on WASH in schools for pupils (2020)

Establishing good water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practice in schools is about infrastructure, operation and maintenance, and education. These posters are a resource for teachers to start integrating WASH in education in or outside the class. They provide practical tips for pupils on addressing good hygiene practices and healthy behaviours. Health education that includes WASH topics contributes to improving health, well-being and quality of life; it increases pupils’ self-esteem, self-confidence and coping capacity with positive effects on their school performance. Each poster is dedicated to a particularly important topic for promoting health and quality education at school.

• Menstrual hygiene management: adequate education on menstrual health can contribute to lowering the absenteeism of girls during their period.
• Using the toilet: learning how to use the toilet, along with proper hydration and hygiene, are both important to sustain a healthy bowel and bladder and can help in keeping toilets in a hygienic state.
• Hydration: regular consumption of drinking-water allows children to maintain attention in class, foster a positive mood and improve school performance.
• Handwashing technique: correct hand hygiene using soap and rubbing hands is the most effective means to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and keep children and adults at school healthy.
• Hand hygiene: education about hand hygiene is an essential step to improve understanding and commitment to increase handwashing practice.

More information on how to address common WASH problems and deliver improvements at the school level can be found in the full/original publication: “Improving health and learning through better water, sanitation and hygiene in schools”.