Safe Schools: Gombe Head Teachers Appeal for Better Toilet Facilities

Segun Awofadeji in Gombe

School head teachers in various communities in Gombe State have appealed to the state government to provide better toilet facilities to avoid open defecation, ensure hygienic environment, and safeguard the health of school children.
They made the appeal in separate interviews with journalists after training workshops on safety of schools and children, organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
According to most of the head teachers especially in villages, none of their school has more than three toilets which they said are inadequate to cater for the male, female pupils and teachers, hence some children resort to open defecation when in distress, making the schools unsafe hygienically.
One of the head teachers Musa Mohammed from Malam Sidi Central Primary School said the school is safe as it is fully fenced but regretted the inadequate toilets despite the fact that it hosts two other schools, a junior and a senior secondary schools.
“We have only two latrines, one for males and the other for females which are too insufficient in view of the magnitude of pupils and students that squat in this school,” he pointed out.
Also, Hajara Simon, a headmistress from Yamaltu Deba Local Government, said she learnt to prevent all things that make schools unsafe for children such as dangerous play, severe punishment by teachers and bullying by fellow pupils in their schools.
She promised to ensure that such are avoided in her school after the UNICEF’s training.

The UNICEF’s Bauchi Field Office Education Specialist, Mr. Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ado said the programme aimed to support the implementation of safe school initiatives.

He tasked the trained head teachers to set up safety committees in their schools that will identify threats, disasters as well as receive complaints on abuse, any forms of violence in the schools, and report and respond appropriately.
The head teachers trained were drawn from Gombe, Yamaltu-Deba and Kwami Local Government Areas.