<\/p>\n
About 40% of public schools within the Philippines lack proper handwashing facilities and designated toilets for ladies and boys, in accordance with social business SATO Philippines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis might cause huge risks. Children get sick from dirty water, and young girls miss school every month because they don\u2019t have privacy,\u201d SATO Philippines Leader Akhito Shimojo told BusinessWorld in a virtual interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’d like to shut this infrastructure gap immediately to guard our learners,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Data from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in 2024 showed that about two-thirds of the poorest Filipinos still lack access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities.<\/p>\n
It added that as much as 50% of the population, including children under five, drinks \u201csurface water\u201d or unsafe water in some municipalities of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and Region IV-B.<\/p>\n
With poor WASH conditions and practices, children are liable to waterborne diseases, resembling diarrhea. The local statistics agency noted that diarrhea and gastroenteritis of presumed infectious origin ranked because the twenty sixth leading reason for death last 12 months, accounting for over 2,000 deaths nationwide.<\/p>\n
In 2019, PIDS noted that poor WASH practices cause 86% of diarrhea-related deaths within the country. Of those fatalities, 35% were children under the age of 5.<\/p>\n
In response to Mr. Shimojo, gaps in sanitation and hygiene infrastructures are directly linked to students\u2019 academic performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchools in crowded cities or distant villages have the worst toilet and water,\u201d Mr. Shimojo said. \u201cThe youngsters who need learning recovery probably the most are those getting sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot solve the training crisis without solving the college health crisis, even with one of the best textbooks,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Based on the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA), EDCOM 2 earlier reported that 41.47% of scholars nationwide are struggling readers. Of those, 2,243,059 students are under Key Stage 1, or learners from Kindergarten to Grade 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk rather a lot about catching up on reading within the mass, but the fact may be very easy \u2013 you can not teach on empty chairs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a student misses school due to a stomach illness or UTI, they fall behind,\u201d he added. \u201cIf kids are too sick to sit down at their desks, we cannot achieve our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SATO Philippines executive underscored that higher facilities result in higher classroom attendance and performance. \u201cWhen children spend more consecutive days at school, their grades naturally go up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith secure private toilets, girls don\u2019t miss crucial lessons or exams during their periods,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen attendance is stable, teachers can finally finish their catch-up program successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n
SATO Philippines has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) and deployed over 11,700 handwashing devices across 587 schools, benefiting about 117,000 students in Luzon and Visayas. It also goals to expand into Mindanao to serve learners higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnywhere is a spot we are able to work with, because if there’s a necessity, we would really like to work with local segments,\u201d Mr. Shimojo said. \u201cWe’re able to expand our product nationwide.\u201d \u2014 Almira Louise S. Martinez<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A\u00a0student and teacher wash their hands at an elementary school in Marikina. \u2014 PHILIPPINE STAR\/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN About 40% of public schools within the Philippines lack proper handwashing facilities and designated toilets for ladies and boys, in accordance with social business SATO Philippines. \u201cThis might cause huge risks. Children get sick from dirty water, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[25788,12334,17176,52566,7961,24194],"class_list":["post-346689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-facilities","tag-lack","tag-phl","tag-sanitation","tag-schools","tag-toilet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346692,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346689\/revisions\/346692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}