More pit latrines removed in Region 5
FRANKFIELD, Manchester — The Education Ministry’s goal to eliminate pit latrines from schools came closer to fruition last month with the official opening of modern toilets at Frankfield Primary and Infant School in Southern Manchester.
Pit latrines, which are still used primarily in rural areas, are regarded as unhygienic and hazardous to children.
Building officer in Region 5, which encompasses Manchester and St Elizabeth, Courtney Hamilton, told the Jamaica Observer Central that the conversions have been going on in schools across the island for many years with the assistance of organisations such as the CHASE Fund, Food For the Poor, Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and private partners, but it intensified about two years ago.
He said that the upgrade at Frankfield has reduced to 29 the remaining pit toilets to be removed in Region 5, and he is expecting that within months modern toilets will be installed in about eight more schools in the two parishes.
Frankfield Primary and Infant was able to achieve that feat through the generosity of Caleb Page, who attended the school in the 1950s and is now a retired mechanical engineer residing in Ohio in the United States.
Page is the president of the non-profit group Global Foundation to Upgrade Underserved Primary and Secondary Schools, which provided the approximately $2.3 million funding for the improvements.
Hamilton said that the 290 boys and girls at the school now have what is called a “seven-seater” bathroom.
The section for the girls is equipped with four flush toilets, while the boys’ compartment has three toilets and two urinals.
Hamilton said that the ministry offers technical support and ensures adherence to the required standards with the projects.
He also said that the toilets at Frankfield are designed to accommodate students with disabilities.
Hamilton said that outside of the financial challenges to abolish the pit latrines, another difficulty being experienced is that some of the schools do not have adequate water, a requirement for the effective functioning of the flush system.
At Frankfield Primary and Infant, like with some of the other rural schools, he said that water harvesting is done to ensure that the projects can be successfully completed.
Principal Marcia Lewis-Brown said that the children were so happy to receive the new toilets that they had to be prevented from filling the pit latrines with stones.
Hamilton explained that although pit latrines are considered by some as relics of the past, often at least one is left where modern toilet projects are completed as a contingency during hurricanes when schools are used as shelters and water is scarce.
The Global Foundation to Upgrade Underserved Primary and Secondary Schools, according to the organisation’s website, works from the premise that every child can achieve academic excellence. As such, it tries to provide the resources and facilities to assist schools to make that possible.
Page, at the opening ceremony for the toilets, encouraged the students to make the most of their educational opportunities.
He said that the work at Frankfield is the first that has been done in Jamaica through his foundation, but there are plans at the “exploratory stage” for further assistance.