CAUSES, EFFECTS AND REMEDIES OF POOR SANITARY CONDITION IN SOME SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ABSTRACT

This study examined the causes, effects, and remedies of poor sanitary conditions in some secondary schools. Adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities are fundamental to protecting the health, dignity, and academic engagement of secondary school students, yet many Nigerian secondary schools continue to operate with inadequate, poorly maintained, or entirely absent sanitary facilities. This study sought to determine whether poor sanitation leads to the spread of infection among students, identify the dangers associated with poor sanitation in secondary schools, examine the factors that result in poor sanitation conditions in schools, determine whether poor sanitation conditions affect students' academic performance, and establish whether there is a difference between poor sanitation conditions and students' hygienic state of health. A survey research design was adopted, with data collected through structured questionnaires and an observational checklist administered to students and teachers in selected secondary schools, and analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings are expected to inform school administrators, education authorities, and policy makers on effective remedies for improving sanitary conditions and safeguarding student health and academic performance.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools are widely recognized as fundamental prerequisites for protecting student health, dignity, and educational participation, a recognition formally embedded in Sustainable Development Goal 6, which calls for universal access to adequate sanitation by 2030. In Nigeria, however, school-based sanitation continues to fall considerably short of this standard, with implications that extend well beyond hygiene into student health, attendance, and academic performance.

The scale of this shortfall has been documented across multiple Nigerian states in recent years. A study assessing healthful school environment conditions among public secondary schools in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State found that many schools fell short of recommended standards for sanitation and environmental hygiene, with implications for student wellbeing and the overall school health programme (Akorede, Sani, Maina, & Isiaq, 2023). A comparable, more recent assessment of environmental hygiene conditions among students and teachers in public secondary schools in Cross River State found that both students and teachers reported poor environmental hygiene conditions overall, despite relatively high underlying hygiene knowledge among both groups, concluding that poor environmental hygiene conditions may increase students' vulnerability to infection, absenteeism, and reduced learning engagement, and calling for the provision of adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities alongside a learning environment conducive to teaching (Asuquo Offiong et al., 2026). This gap between what students and teachers know about hygiene and the conditions they actually experience points to a facilities and infrastructure problem rather than simply a knowledge gap.

Research examining specific sanitation practices reinforces this picture. A study of water, sanitation, and hygiene practices among secondary school students in Ijebu Ode found that inadequate facilities and inconsistent practices among students contributed to health risks within the school environment (Otto, Opatoki, & Luyi, 2022). A large, methodologically rigorous 2025 comparative study of WASH adherence among 400 public and private secondary school students in Ikeduru Local Government Area, Imo State, found that while public school students demonstrated notably higher WASH knowledge than private school students, 87.1 percent compared to 54.3 percent, this knowledge advantage did not straightforwardly translate into correspondingly better sanitation outcomes, pointing to gaps between knowledge and either facility availability or actual practice that varied meaningfully between school types (Bosede et al., 2025). At a broader structural level, a study examining school WASH inequalities in a low-income Nigerian community found that disparities in WASH access between public and private schools remain a significant impediment to Nigeria's ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets for sanitation and hygiene, underscoring that the problem of poor school sanitation in Nigeria is not confined to any single state or locality but reflects a broader, structural pattern of underinvestment (Wada, Olawade, Oladeji, Amusa, & Oloruntoba, 2022).

Taken together, this literature suggests that poor sanitary conditions in Nigerian secondary schools are widespread across states and school types, are associated with meaningful health risks including infection and reduced hygiene-related wellbeing, and interact in complex ways with both students' underlying hygiene knowledge and the type of school they attend. This body of evidence provides the empirical foundation for the present study's examination of the causes, effects, and remedies of poor sanitary conditions in secondary schools.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Despite the fundamental importance of adequate school sanitation to student health and educational participation, poor sanitary conditions remain widespread across Nigerian secondary schools, as documented in states as varied as Kaduna, Cross River, Ogun, and Imo (Akorede, Sani, Maina, & Isiaq, 2023; Asuquo Offiong et al., 2026; Otto, Opatoki, & Luyi, 2022; Bosede et al., 2025). Existing research consistently links these poor conditions to elevated risk of infection and reduced student wellbeing (Asuquo Offiong et al., 2026), and identifies persistent structural inequalities, particularly between public and private schools, in the availability of adequate sanitation infrastructure (Wada, Olawade, Oladeji, Amusa, & Oloruntoba, 2022).

However, much of this existing evidence has focused on documenting the condition of sanitation facilities and associated hygiene knowledge, with comparatively less attention paid to systematically examining the specific factors that produce poor sanitation conditions in a given school setting, the specific dangers these conditions pose to students, and the concrete remedies most likely to be effective in addressing them. There also remains limited direct evidence on whether poor sanitation conditions measurably affect students' academic performance, as distinct from their health outcomes alone. Without this fuller picture, linking causes, effects, and remedies together in a single coherent study, school administrators and education authorities risk addressing symptoms of poor sanitation without fully understanding either their root causes or their most consequential effects. It is this gap that the present study seeks to address.

1.3 Research Questions

The following research questions are raised to guide the study:

1. Does poor sanitation lead to the spread of infection among students in secondary school?
2. What are the dangers associated with poor sanitation in secondary schools?
3. What are the factors that result in poor sanitation conditions in schools?
4. Does poor sanitation condition affect the academic performance of students in secondary schools?
5. Is there any difference between poor sanitation condition and students' hygienic state of health?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

Guided by the research questions above, the objectives of this study are to:

1. Determine whether poor sanitation leads to the spread of infection among students in secondary school.
2. Identify the dangers associated with poor sanitation in secondary schools.
3. Examine the factors that result in poor sanitation conditions in schools.
4. Determine whether poor sanitation condition affects the academic performance of students in secondary schools.
5. Establish the relationship between poor sanitation condition and students' hygienic state of health.

1.5 Research Hypotheses

Ho1: Poor sanitation has no significant effect on the spread of infection among students in secondary school.

Ho2: Poor sanitation condition has no significant effect on the academic performance of students in secondary schools.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will benefit secondary school administrators and school health programme coordinators by providing evidence to guide improvements in sanitation infrastructure and practice. It will benefit state and federal education authorities, including Ministries of Education, by clarifying the specific factors and remedies relevant to addressing poor school sanitation. It will benefit students and parents, by drawing attention to the health and academic risks associated with poor sanitary conditions. It will benefit public health practitioners working on school-based WASH interventions. Finally, the study will serve as a reference for future researchers examining sanitation, health, and academic performance in Nigerian secondary schools.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study is limited to examining the causes, effects, and remedies of poor sanitary conditions in selected secondary schools, covering the relationship between sanitation and infection, the dangers of poor sanitation, contributing factors, academic performance implications, and students' hygienic state of health.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

Time and resource constraints limited the study to a selected sample of secondary schools rather than a comprehensive regional or national survey. Self-reported data on hygiene practices and health status may be subject to recall bias or social desirability bias. Access to official academic performance records for correlation with sanitation conditions was limited in some respects.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Sanitation: The provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human waste and the maintenance of hygienic conditions.

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): A collective term referring to policies and practices aimed at ensuring access to clean water, adequate sanitation facilities, and hygienic conditions.

Infection: The invasion and multiplication of harmful microorganisms in the body, often facilitated by poor hygiene conditions.

Academic Performance: The measurable extent to which a student achieves educational objectives, typically assessed through grades or test scores.

Hygienic State of Health: The overall condition of an individual's health as influenced by their hygiene practices and environment.

REFERENCES

Akorede, S. N., Sani, M., Maina, G., & Isiaq, A. T. (2023). Assessment of healthful school environment among public secondary schools in Sabon Gari Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Al-hikmah Journal of Education.

Asuquo Offiong, A. E., Obeten, O. O., Esin, J. E., Ubuh, K. J., Offem, O. O., & Akpa-Inyang, F. F. (2026). Assessment of environmental hygiene conditions among students and teachers in public secondary schools in Cross River State, Nigeria. International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition, 15(4), 314–324.

Bosede, A. O., et al. (2025). A comparative assessment of WASH adherence among public and private school students in a rural district in Nigeria. BMC Public Health, 25, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23253-7

Otto, E., Opatoki, A., & Luyi, D. (2022). Water, sanitation and hygiene practice among students in secondary school, Ijebu Ode, Nigeria.

Wada, O. Z., Olawade, D. B., Oladeji, E. O., Amusa, A. O., & Oloruntoba, E. O. (2022). School water, sanitation, and hygiene inequalities: A bane of sustainable development goal six in Nigeria. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 113(3). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00633-9