DEMERITS SIDE OF OPEN DEFECATION ON SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

pen Defecation (OD) is the practice of defecating outside (in an open environment). It is a practice of defecating not in a designated toilet. It occurs in fileds, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals, or other open spaces. In Nigeria, the practice is common, and usual to find faeces even in cities, and school premises. This had caused Nigeria to ranked as the country with the largest turnout of OD in Africa, and second globally after India. OD is been practiced at schools because of reasons, such as; lack of toilets, lack of water, poor awareness, culture,and behavior. There are many effects of OD to education in Nigeria. Parable, OD enable diseases (example, diarrhea, trachoma, polio, typhoid, gastroenteritis, botulism etc) transmissions and in turn impede children's physical ability and cognitive development; it can also prevent children from attending schools (443 million school days are lost every year due to water-related illnesses); it causes drop out especially among girls; hours and days are spent by girls or boys seeking for places to defecate. Moreover, girls that are menstruating have the habits of abandoning schools because of poor sanitation. Children or students might be exposed to wild animals or violence on their way to surf for place to defecate. OD at schools can be control by taking measures: construction and maintenance of enough toilets hardware for males and females, creation of awareness among students and parents, and making laws to provide sanitation at schools.