Ratio of toilets to students

Q: I am working on a DFID funded primary school sanitation project in Nigeria and would appreciate advice on the ratio of toilets to students to use.  Is 1 toilet to 40 students adequate?

Answer: “In some references, a rough standard used is a ratio of one facility for 20 students although in some countries the standard might be as high as one facility for 50 students.” This is a quote from a good booklet on school toilets:

Mooijman, A. and Zomerplaag, J. (2004). Child-friendly hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools : indispensible to effective hygiene education. Delft, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Available at: http://www.irc.nl/content/view/full/9587

In this book you will find the following about ratio of school children to toilets:

“In some references, a rough standard used is a ratio of one facility for 20 students although in some countries the standard might be as high as one facility for 50 students. In addition, there are some other important factors when defining the exact number of facilities necessary:

• How many girls and how many boys are there? It is recommended that at least half of the facilities are urinals. They are much cheaper than toilets and have a shorter waiting time. Where pits are used, providing urinals will extend the lifespan of the pits considerably and will cause less overall odour if they are well designed.
• Are children allowed to use the toilets during classes or only during breaks? When facilities are only used during breaks, there will be peaks in usage and therefore the capacity needs to be higher.
• How many breaks are there? When there are few breaks the capacity needs to be higher than when there are more breaks, because children have fewer opportunities to use the facilities.
• Do all classes begin and end at the same time? When timetables are different, fewer facilities are required. The ‘highest peak’ for usage has to be determined.
• Will the number of students expand considerably in the future? What is the expected proportion between girls and boys?
• Are there users with disabilities? Do they need specific design adaptations for sanitation facilities, hand washing or water access?
• Do female/male teachers prefer to have their own facilities with sufficient privacy?”

Please note: An important aspect is menstrual hygiene. This should be taken into account while thinking about toilets and facilities.

“Girls need to change their sanitary napkins regularly during the period of menstruation especially in the first two to three days. The vast majority of girls use cloth pads usually torn from old saris, instead of sanitary towels/napkin. These cloth pads are washed and used several times. There is no private place to change and clean them and often no safe water and soap to wash them properly. A culture of shame and embarrassment forces them to seek for well hidden places even in their homes to dry these clothes. These places are often damp, dark and unhealthy. This practice is responsible for a significant proportion of illness and infection associated with female reproductive health. Very often serious infections are left untreated. Menstruation as a regular process needs hygienic management. ” (Unicef India, 2008).  Also, or maybe even especially at schools!

 See for more information on this, a nice booklet by Unicef:

India. Department of Drinking Water Supply -IN (2008). Sharing simple facts : useful information about menstrual health and hygiene. New Delhi, India, UNICEF.
P27-29 are on menstrual hygiene management in schools. http://www.irc.nl/docsearch/title/168685