Many schools and kindergartens don’t have tap water or indoor toilets

Because of a fund deficiency, many Moldovan schools and kindergartens don’t have access to tap water, and 100 schools in the country don’t even have indoor toilets. The head of the Health and Youth division within the National Center of Public Health (CNSP), Mariana Tutunaru, told Info-Prim Neo that, out of 1377 of the schools in the country, water is brought in water cisterns in 7% of the cases. 14.7% of the 1379 kindergartens don’t have access to tap water as well, and the 100 schools without indoor toilets are located in the districts Cahul, Cimisilia and Criuleni. The head of the General Education Division in Cahul, Tatiana Hulub, has mentioned that this situation was created by the lack of funds. The educational institutions in Cahul participate in numerous foreign financing projects to solve the problem. Some villages are involved in a German project that will allot 16 million lei for the construction of a water supply system for several schools. The schools that have outdoor toilets have been built years ago, based on old standards. A Swiss project whose goal is to build 10 schools’ WCs is already under way. The deputy chief of the Regional Education Division in Cantemir, Ion Buzdugan, has mentioned that in the case of some schools, the water is brought with buckets and tanks. The educational institution administrators and the local authorities have accessed foreign projects, and by the end of the year, Lingura, Porumbesti and Stoianovca villages will have access to tap water. Ion Buzdugan added that many wells have dried because of the drought, which makes supplying the institutions with water more difficult. As for the lavatories, the deputy chief said that many of these are broken because of the drainage system that hasn’t been cleaned up in time because of the lack of trained staff. The Head of the Educational Division in Soroca, Ghenadie Donos, has mentioned that they are still waiting for the completion of a construction project for the Balti-Soroca aqueduct, which would solve part of their problems. Several villages will be supplied with tap water. For now, the children wash their hands at manual taps and drink water from tanks. According to a 2010 UNICEF study, children in rural areas, compared to their peers in the cities, have less access to basic hygienic facilities, such as lavatories, soap, toilet paper, hand dryers and water closets. In 232 of the Moldovan schools, students can’t wash their hands because the sinks are damaged or the taps are missing. One in three schools doesn’t have washing facilities in cafeterias and three in four don't have water closets. Thus, children may be exposed to “dirty hands” diseases because they haven’t had the chance to wash their hands after using the toilet.