Introduction

Ensuring that children are healthy and are able to learn is an essential component of an effective education system. This is especially relevant to achieving ‘Education for All.’ In order to derive maximum benefits from society, children must be healthy. Therefore, programs that improve health can enhance learning and educational outcomes. However, just like in every institution, a school in this case, there are diverse challenges faced by the management in order to achieve the set goals. The problems faced by Kalingalinga Primary School need both Environmental and Educational approaches in order to solve them.

Background

As environmental educators, we visited Kalingalinga Primary School where we had a privilege of interviewing the head teacher of the school Mr. Kaela Chisupa who highlighted a number of environmental issues faced by the management as well as the school at large. According to the statement released by Mr. Kaela, the school is known to be one of the most vulnerable in terms of infrastructure, sanitation and health in the central zone in the Lusaka district as compared to surrounding schools such as Kabulonga Basic School and Jacaranda School to mention but a few.

Aim  

The aim of this report is to show how team work is paramount in running a school. Everyone is involved in the management of environment starting with the senior most person who is the head, to junior most member of stuff which are the general workers. Pupils, who are the most important stakeholders are taught among others how to keep their environment clean because learning is best done in a clean and conducive environment.  And all these can be achieved with the implementation of relevant environmental and educational approaches.

Approaches used

• First and foremost, the school ensures that environmental information is disseminated to the pupils during assemblies with emphasis especially from the teachers on duty every week. In addition, every so often, pupils are sensitised on how to dispose of their litter as well as how to use the toilet properly.

• The Head Teacher explained to us that parasitic infections due to unsafe drinking water were observed from pupils as well as members of staff. This was due to poor sanitation at the school. He further stated that the common infection was diarrhoea, which diminishes their ability to concentrate in class. In addition to this, cognitive development is also diminished.  Due to erratic water supply, stakeholders came on board and donated a 10 thousand litre water tank. Since then, the school has not experienced any problems regarding water supply. Four water points have been installed each having three taps amounting to twelve taps in total in the entire school, two of these water points were strategically placed near the ablution blocks in order to encourage hand washing after use of the toilet to prevent diarrheal diseases.

• In the recent past, the school had dilapidated classrooms in terms of licking roofs and damaged floors. With the aid of a stakeholder, in this case Class Econ, the school was able to replace the licking roofing sheets and fix the classroom floors.

• In terms of waste management, the school has adopted an efficient way of getting rid of generated waste. This has been achieved through a named dump site where waste is taken once it has been collected. The school subscribes a monthly fee for the collection of waste.

• More toilets have been constructed and others rehabilitated. After the rehabilitation process, water supply to the ablution blocks has not been a problem. In the recent past, the school only had two toilet rooms for the staff members which were shared by both male and female, whereas there was an outdated ablution block for pupils with poor running water. However, a named group of donors helped the school with a new and more conducive ablution block and have also commenced on the rehabilitation of the old ablution block. Furthermore, a separate set of an ablution block has been constructed and it is functional. The aforementioned was achieved by the assistance received from donors.

• Litter bins have been stationed around the school in order to avoid littering. Before Mr. Kaela came into administration, it was not the case. This is because pits were dug and used for general waste disposal. But when he came in, he changed the dumping system of the school where he, alongside other school administrators purchased about six littering bins each weighing 250 litres. This means that the school no longer buries their waste rather, the bins are used to dispose of the waste and the move has helped the school maintain a healthy and litter free environment.

• Due to the recent cholera outbreak, the school strategically placed hand sanitizers on each toilet door as well as the main school entrance so as to avoid the spread of the virus. And because of this strategy, the school successfully recorded no cases of the outbreak until to date.

• The management took the effort of employing an addition of three general workers aside from one worker employed and paid by the government. This was done to ensure that the school surrounding is kept clean at all times.  Besides that, the pupils are fully engaged in keeping the environment clean through litter picking exercises and other duties assigned to them.

• The Head Teacher stated that they have been working to ensure that they have a clean and healthy environment by coming up with a clean-up day each week where each and every class is expected to clean a particular portion. Prizes are given to classes that stand out and those that stay away from the cleaning activity are severely punished. Another way the school ensures its environment is kept clean is by having noise makers, late comers and notorious pupils do most of the clean-up works.  These works involve slashing, sweeping the surroundings, doing the gardening and also painting when need arises.

• Environmental education promotes a sense of commitment and therefore once pupils get to understand various aspects of the environment, how they affect people and how to promote environmental health, they will be able to come up with solutions to environmental issues.

    Recommendations

• We recommended that the school should introduce awards to both teachers and pupils whose external yards and classrooms comes out the best in sanitation and cleanliness.

• We also recommended that the administration should work on creating an environmental club that will operate like jets and maths club. This move is believed to spark the imagination and unlock the creativity in pupils. Various interesting activities such as environmental projects and other related competitions will be incorporated into the club making pupils make connections and also apply the knowledge learnt in the real world.

• Furthermore, we recommend that health inspectors pay regular visits to the school to advise them on how best they can improve and maintain a clean, healthy and conducive environment.

• The school should embark on fundraising ventures aimed at raising funds for paying their general workers, purchase of needed tools and materials needed for their surroundings to be kept clean, as well as improve their school infrastructure  

    In conclusion, environmental and educational approaches are extremely important in order to achieve environmental sustainability in every given institution. In order for learning conditions to be conducive, everyone must be actively involved, most importantly, teachers must spearhead environmental activities so that pupils are motivated to do the same. This is so because teachers are considered as role models in the school system.