This article touches on an issue that is near to our hearts. Read what the Huffington Post has to say about Children’s Right to Learn.
This month our children, and children around the world, return to the classroom. It’s an exciting, busy time with parents everywhere focused on setting up their children for success — making sure they have the right school supplies, new shoes and healthy lunches.
But what if some schools and teachers don’t have what they need to keep children healthy and safe each day at school? What if students are expected to miss classes to collect water, sometimes kilometres away? What if toilets are far, at risk of collapsing, or lacking any privacy?
What if there is no safe water and no toilets at all?
This is not a worry that parents and teachers should have. Safe drinking water and decent toilets should be basic essentials in every school, everywhere. Unfortunately, it’s not the case for millions of children in the world.
Take the 500 students at St. John Bosco Gayaza Primary School in Uganda for example. The water source they rely on is an open pool located about one kilometre from their school. They walk there every day to fetch the water they need and have no alternative but to drink this dirty water. This leads to diarrhea and school days missed because the children get sick from water-borne related diseases. Some of the children won’t drink the dirty water. As a result, they endure long hours of thirst before going home.
*Read the rest of this article by Nicole Hurtubise, CEO, WaterAid Canada here.