The recent call by our Prime Minister asking students to clean their toilets is a fabulous move, and this must be implemented immediately.

There is not one school in our country where a girl student can use the toilet in a safe and hygienic manner.

The toilets are an important pivot for any school-going child.

School sanitation and a child’s education are inextricably linked. When children are denied access to safe and clean school toilets, their ability to learn and realize their full potential can be severely compromised.

The School Toilet Report by Domestos (an international toilet cleaner manufacturer) provides a comprehensive international evaluation of the state of school toilets and their impact on children’s schooling experience.

The report states that sanitation in schools is clearly an issue that impacts children physically and emotionally, disrupting their learning and even leading to irregular school attendance.

This is a hidden crisis that if left unaddressed, threatens to undermine the global effort to achieve quality education for all children by 2030.

Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) to improve access to education and learning outcomes, and SDG 6 to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030 are unlikely to be achieved if the issues raised in this report do not receive the right attention in Malaysia.

Malaysians must take heed of the clarion call of our Prime Minister and take this issue seriously and wake up from the current malaise where my child cannot be a part of cleaning the toilets in his/her school.

In our country, the general state of any toilet, be it in the Putrajaya government office or any public toilet, or even public toilets in the most elitist apartment in Mont Kiara or Bangsar, the condition remains much to be applauded or to be appreciated.

The government, donor agencies, NGOs, teachers, parents and students must redouble their efforts to ensure that every school is able to provide clean and usable toilets.

No child should feel anxious about attending school because they are nervous to use the school toilets.

Both my daughters attended primary and secondary schools, without visiting the school toilet, as it was unbearable for them. This definitely led to infections and some minor health issues too.

Nine in ten children have an issue with their school toilets at some or all the time, ranging from neglected facilities, lack of hand-washing facilities, cleanliness, missing and broken taps, broken sinks, spoiled door latches, slippery floors, blocked sewers, causing much stench and a total lack of privacy and safety.

Toilets that smell (68%), wet floors (66%), toilet paper on the floor or on the toilet seat bowl (63%), or not having toilet paper at all (61%), broken toilet (70%), spoiled bidet (88%) are the findings in most school toilets in the world, and this applies aptly to Malaysia too.

More than half (52%) reported urine or defecating on the floor, toilet seat or in the toilet bowl.

Every child must clean their toilet in bringing a total reset to our toilets and our country’s reputation in having truly safe and clean toilets, wherever we are.

Children reported that they often had to deal with unflushed toilets (60%), no soap to wash their hands (55%), poor lighting (45%) or unsafe facilities (40%) and a lack of doors or gates (30%).

One in three children (32%) have reported a negative physical response as a consequence of avoiding the school toilets, ranging from skipping meals and not drinking, soiling themselves and finding it hard to concentrate in lessons.

One in ten children (10%) are missing school to avoid poorly cleaned and maintained school toilets.

Children have reported deliberately avoid drinking water or eating to ensure they do not need to use the toilets during school hours.

In the worst cases, some students report that they have wet or soiled themselves because of not wanting to use the school toilets (8%).

The toilet issues in our schools should not remain behind the toilet walls only. It should be made visible, and every parent and teacher must be encouraged to ask the child if the school toilet is clean or otherwise.

This feedback must be encouraged and regular toilet checks must be conducted in every school.

Frequent checks must be made and all types of repairs must be carried out immediately. Clean toilet contests must be held in schools honoring the teachers, students and even the headmasters.

Every child must be rostered to clean the toilet without fail. The teachers and parents must also educate the children on why we need to have clean and safe toilets.

The Parents-Teachers Association should not only focus on building community halls, gardens or landscaping in schools, they must also focus on the toilets and work closely with the teachers to encourage their children to clean the toilets without fail.

Pull out the recalcitrant parents and ensure that they either pay for the additional encumbrances or repairs if their children do not partake in the rostered toilet cleaning programs.

The focus on a clean toilet at school will certainly change the horrible public toilet reputation that we are to put up with.

This invasive and participative method of keeping our toilets clean will slowly but surely change the foul and stinking image of our toilets.

While I applaud our Prime Minister’s initiative and call for clean toilets, I think it’s a crying shame if parents, teachers, headmasters and related agencies in the education sector do not take this matter seriously and get down making a difference.

Every child must clean their toilet in bringing a total reset to our toilets and our country’s reputation in having truly safe and clean toilets, wherever we are.

(Ravindran Raman Kutty is an active social worker.)