Aging toilets leave students struggling at Tay Ninh schools

Nearly 40 primary schools in Tay Ninh Province need new or repaired sanitation facilities, with aging and overcrowded toilets leaving students and teachers struggling with basic hygiene. Fourth-grader Nguyen Ngo Thuy Vi at Trieu Thi Trinh Primary School in Thanh Dien Ward dreads every trip to the toilet. The moldy smell is overpowering, and when it rains, she can get soaked because the corrugated-iron roof is riddled with holes."I hope the school will repair or rebuild the toilets soon so we don’t get wet every rainy season," Vi said.Inside the students’ toilets, old water pipes embedded in the walls have rusted over the years, causing large patches of plaster to peel away. The tiled floor has sunk by about 20 centimeters, cracking the walls. The rusted roof is riddled with finger-sized holes. Broken toilets, damaged doors and a dilapidated outdoor hand-washing area add to the deterioration, with moss and weeds covering the area and the drainage system no longer functioning."Every year the school spends money on repairs and sealing cracks, but the buildings are simply too old to fix anymore," said Nguyen Thanh Yen, a teacher at the school, standing beside two toilet blocks covering about 30 square meters that were built 20 years ago.The nearby teachers’ toilets are in similar condition, with leaking roofs and gutters, overgrown weeds and freshly painted walls already peeling because of dampness.Principal Tran Thi Thanh Thuy said the school has 185 students and 14 staff members, with 14 classrooms, six functional rooms and four toilet blocks. Besides the deteriorating toilets, the school has no showers, kitchen or staff housing.For years, teachers and students have relied on well water because the school has no piped clean-water supply. Several functional rooms and the surrounding fence also need urgent repairs.About 40 kilometers away, Hoa Dong Primary School Campus 2 in Phuoc Vinh Commune lies in a remote border area, 12 kilometers from the commune center and near the Khmer villages of Chung Ruc and Tro Piang Som. It has nine classes, 15 teachers and more than 200 students, 74 of them Khmer. Most parents work as farmers or laborers, while many children come from near-poor households or live with grandparents after their parents divorced.Principal Dang Cong Xuan said the school has two toilet blocks, one for students and one for teachers, each measuring about 10 square meters and more than 10 years old. Eight years ago, 10 new classroom blocks were built without toilets, forcing the school to continue patching up the old, overcrowded facilities."The toilets are tiny and there are so many students that during every break the children have to queue up," Xuan said.The campus also lacks a kitchen and showers. Staff housing built decades ago is deteriorating and needs renovation. The school has repeatedly requested state funding for repairs and upgrades, but none has been approved so far.According to preliminary statistics from the Tay Ninh Department of Education and Training, nearly 40 primary schools in the province need new or repaired sanitation facilities, not including other school levels.Hope Foundation recently surveyed several schools with the department to assess facilities and identify priority areas that directly affect students and teachers.Readers can help improve learning conditions for students in disadvantaged areas of Tay Ninh here.