Lack of good sanitation facilities at schools can affect the well-being of the students. The impact is higher particularly for female students as they may endure a lot of discomfort during the menstruating period and compromise good personal hygiene. Girls of Tangmachu Central School (CS) in Lhuentse are in similar condition. Their hostels are in poor condition and don’t have toilets and water facilities.
About 250 girls from grades IV-XII are accommodated in two hostels. But since the hostels were constructed 30 years back, they are not equipped with facilities like washrooms, first aid room and reliable water system.
This has posed challenges to the girls in maintaining good personal hygiene.
But they are hoping to get rid of these challenges once they move into the 180-bedded hostel.
“The present hostel is too old and not in good condition. The toilet is also located outside the hostel. So, we feel scared to go there at night. But since the new hostel has all the facilities put in place with an attached washroom, we are so excited to move into the new hostel,” said one of the students, Sonam Yangchen.
Like her, other students are equally excited to move into the new hostel.
“We are eagerly waiting to shift into the new hostel. We won’t face any difficulty since there is an attached washroom with water available all the time. The current hostel has no attached toilet and we are also facing water problems,” added another student, Norbu Lhaden.
According to the school management, the hostel will be completed this December. Its construction began in 2020 and was supposed to complete in July last year. But COVID-19 delayed the work.
The hostel is being constructed at the cost of Nu 29 M. Once the girls move in there, the two old hostels will be used as boys’ hostels.
Tangmachu Central School was opened in 1994 as a Junior High School. At present, the school has 759 students from PP to grade XII.
Sonam Tshering, Lhuentse
Edited by Pema Lhaden
