ISSN 2360-7963
Abstract: This study explored the effectiveness of the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programme in the provision of facilities in public basic schools in the Krachi Nchumurun District and identified ways of improving the mobilization of facilities to enhance the health of teachers and learners in the district. It was qualitative research underpinned by a case study research design. The semi-structured interview guide was employed to collect data for the study and the purposive homogenous sampling technique was used to select six (6) teachers from each of the six (6) Circuits in the Krachi Nchumurun District for the study. The qualitative data collected was analyzed thematically. The study showed that, facilities provided under the WASH programme in basic schools in the district were woefully inadequate, hence, many of the schools in the district still practice open defecation. However, with the intervention of the provision of tippy tap handwashing facilities, which are predominantly used in all schools due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, the study revealed that the outbreak of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid have reduced mainly due to the availability of the tippy taps, which teachers and learners are encouraged to wash their hands regularly under close supervision from GES with enforcement of an award and punishment system for that purpose. Also, the study ascertained that available facilities such as boreholes and latrines were not disability friendly especially for persons with mobility challenges. In addition, the few latrines available are not user-friendly to adolescent female children in school for ensuring privacy and hygienic conditions during their menstrual periods, thereby, contributing to high school absenteeism, and poor academic performance of these learners including children with disability. The study therefore, recommended that, GES at the Regional level must swiftly intervene to solicit for more facilities to schools in the district and empower the newly created District Education Office (DEOC) in the Krachi Nchumuru District with human, material and financial resources to enable the DEOC to support schools to play their roles more meaningfully in the provision of accessible facilities to all teachers and learners to enhance sanitation issues and improve school attendance and academic performance in the schools.
Keywords: Effectiveness, Water and Sanitation Health programme (WASH), public basic schools, Krachi Nchumurun District.