Republic of the Philippines Department of Education Region IX, Zamboanga Peninsula SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE South Sindangan I District Dumalogdog Elementary School Tel No.: 09260034686
e-mail address: albert.hisoler@deped.gov.
NARRATIVE REPORT OF WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE ( WASH) IN SCHOOLS (WINS) PROGRAM IN SCHOOL
I. INTRODUCTION The advocacy on the promotion of correct hygiene and sanitation practices among school children and a clean environment has been the government’s priority through the Department of Education to keep the learners safe and healthy, excel academically and develop to be productive citizens in the country. The world’s chaotic environment has impacts on children particularly on health and academic performance that trapped in a cycle of diseases and poverty for a long period of time.. Nearly 90% of the world’s school aged children live in low and middle income countries where living conditions often result in high prevalence of poverty-related diseases. Weather at school or home, overcrowded buildings, lack of clean water and sanitation facilities, poor awareness and poor personal hygiene practices are the root causes of many diseases; and so is the lack of healthy and balanced diet. Infectious diseases like diarrhea, respiratory infections, skin diseases, worm infections and dental cavities are very common, considered normal, socially accepted therefore neglected. (Monse, 2010). In the Philippines, the DepEd Order no. 65, s. 2009 states that the most common hygiene deficiency related infectious diseases in public schools are due to inadequate water and functional sanitary facilities, if unattended, these will lead to malnutrition, poor physical growth and other diseases like anemia, toothache among others. II. IMPLEMENTATION / ACTIVITIES Handwashing with soap is one of the key elements of DepEd’s Comprehensive Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in school (WINS) Program as stipulated in DepEd Order no. 10, s. 2016. In line with this, Global Handwashing Day is annually celebrated every 15 th day of October to advocate and raise awareness on the significance of washing hands with soap. This year, the global Handwashing Theme “Clean Hands for All” focuses on the links between handwashing and food including food hygiene and nutrition. This gives importance to handwashing in keeping food safe and preventing diseases and helping children grow. As one of the public schools of the Division of Zamboanga del Norte, Dumalogdog Elementary School supported, conducted, and observed the different activities relative to WINS Program implementation. During the information drive on WINS Program sometime on the last week of July, 2018, the principal of Dumalogdog Elementary School, Mr. Albert D. Hisoler gave his message and stated some insights on the importance of handwashing during the convergence. All the teachers discussed the importance of handwashing with soap and toothbrushing on their respective classes. They encourage the pupils to do proper handwashing as this is critical to food
safety and illness prevention and should be done particularly after students use the comfort room (CR) and before they eat. Teachers should train pupils how to properly wash their hands and allot time for handwashing before and after meals. They demonstrate the steps in handwashing by singing the Happy Birthday Song, three times. Every day, before the class started, the pupils do the proper handwashing. Lack of access to adequate water supply, insufficient toilet and proper handwashing facilities, and non-practice of proper hygiene remain as the key contributors to hygiene and sanitation challenges. This situation also leads to anemia, stunted growth, and higher absenteeism which consequently impede a child’s learning and ability to stay in school. UNICEF correctly notes that poverty is linked directly to poor sanitation and hygiene and has emphasized the vital role of government in breaking the cycle of poverty and ensuring access to improved drinking water and sanitation. To provide some of the materials or facilities needed to realize WINS program and to improve the proper hygiene of the pupils, Dumalogdog Elementary School through the effort and initiative of our active and energetic Principal II, Mr. Albert D. Hisoler had sourced out good partnership with stakeholders by sending letter requests. And we’re so lucky that our request was approved by Share Your Spare Singapore. We’re very lucky and thankful to partner Share Your Spare Singapore in this endeavor for the provision of hygiene kits (soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste and hand sanitizer) organized by Adrian Soco. Pupils were very happy upon receiving the hygiene kits to be used in handwashing, sanitizing and toothbrushing. Our school constructed group handwashing facility funded by the school MOOE Funds that can be used by the pupils every day. Our principal assigned teachers to lead a committee composed of; WINS coordinator: Myfil O. Sami, Clinic-Incharge : Rogen E. Insong, Feeding Coordinator : Rosita A. Macadaya and Canteen Incharge: Janice B. Villalon. In addition, our school conducted a feeding program for the severely wasted children and implemented school-based solid waste management through construction of layakan project. III. RECOMMENDATION Best practices around the world show that improving access to and use of water and sanitation facilities within schools and enhancing hygiene and sanitation practices can effectively halt water and sanitation-related diseases. To address this challenge, the Department of Education (DepEd) had been conducting semi-annual deworming of kindergarten and elementary school children in all public schools nationwide under its Integrated Helminth Control Program (IHCP). It has combined deworming with daily toothbrushing and proper handwashing under one program. The Department Order ( D. O.) no. 56, s. 2009 titled “ Immediate Construction of Water and Hand Washing Facilities in All Schools for the Prevention of Influenza A (H1NI) and D. O. no. 65, s. 2009 titled “ Implementation of the Essential Health Care Program (EHCP) for the School Children” were issued in an effort to institutionalize good health and hygiene practices among pupils. These programs propelled the efforts of the country closer to achieving the 2015 MDG goal on the reduction of infectious diseases and improving sanitation coverage. Even with the significant gains of DepEd’s on Deworming Program, H1NI; and EHCP- the Department recognized the merit of having a comprehensive approach to the promotion of hygiene and sanitation practices among school children and a clean environment in and around schools to keep learners safe and healthy. Hence, the DepEd crafted the Wash in Schools Policy (DepEd Order no. 10 s. 2016) as holistic program for personal health care and environmental sanitation through a set of standards or proper and correct health practices in schools. It goes beyond handwashing, toothbrushing and deworming-which are the key programs of the EHCP- to cover water sanitation including food handling and preparation, and capacity building.in crafting this set of guidelines, thus, the Department, in partnership with agencies and stakeholders, hopes to address the gaps in the areas of hygiene and sanitation and keep more children healthy in school. Finally, Dumalogdog Elementary School teachers were glad while watching the children perform handwashing and toothbrushing every day and during the feeding time. We observed proper handwashing before the class started and proper waste disposal every day in school. And our school also was thankful to Share Your Spare Singapore organized by Adrian Soco who
donated the hygiene kits in our school and also to LGU and district nurses who conducted deworming in our school every month of July and January of the school year. III. DOCUMENTATION Our school documented the different activities related to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in School (WINS). The following are some of the pictures taken during the activities.
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NARRATIVE REPORT ON WINS PROGRAM (WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE ( WASH) IN SCHOOLS)
Prepared by: MYFIL O. SAMI WINS COORDINATOR