World toilet day 2022: making the invisible visible

The World Toilet Day is celebrated November 19 every year. It has been an annual United Nations observance since 2003.

The day is marked to celebrate toilets and highlight the global sanitation crisis that affects people around the world who are living without access to safely managed toilets. This year's World Toilet Day 2022 was commemorated on the theme: "Let's make the invisible visible."

As part of the celebration, some students shared their experiences using toilet facilities in their schools with the Junior Graphic.

Claudine

My school’s toilet is good and always kept clean.
The problem we have is with water. The school’s tap doesn’t flow regularly so we have to walk a long distance to fetch water to flash the toilets.
The student population is large and the toilet facility of the school is not enough for all of us. We have to queue to get access to the place.
I want management to solve our water problem and also construct more toilets for us.

Christopher

My school uses the traditional squatting toilets. We have to squat before attending to nature’s call. When it is full, the water splashes on us from the hole.
The place always smells bad and is not kept clean. As a result of the bad sanitary conditions, some children touch the faeces and eat without properly washing their hands.
I want to appeal to the government and managements of the school to construct a sitting toilet and provide water for the school so that we can properly wash our hands after visiting the place.

Elizabeth

The toilet in the school smells very bad and is not kept clean. We use the sitting toilet but there is no water to flash the faeces or urine after we are done.
As a result of this, some of my mates get sick after using the place and others find other ways to ease themselves and avoid going to the school’s toilet.

Joycelyn
The children in my school sometimes defecate around the toilet and the stench extends to our classroom, making people get headache as a result.
I’m calling on the school authorities to help build a modern toilet facility so the children can ease themselves there.

Hellu
Most people in my school get sick from using the toilet; the place is not kept clean and is always smelling bad.
Some of my friends don’t use the toilet till they get home; this makes them always complain of stomach aches.
I want the school management to construct new and modern toilets for us.