ABSTRACT
Sanitation services and practices play an integral role for the good health of both the pupils and teachers in the early childhood environment. Sanitation is an important concept in the learning environment as it directly affects the health outcomes of the teachers and the pupils. Unsanitary learning environments can promote the spread of diseases that are detrimental to pupils and teachers alike.
Therefore this study intends to assess the sanitary condition and practices of early childhood education centers and also highlight the dangers of poor sanitation services in early childhood education centers in Oredo Local Government, Benin City, Edo State. To this end five (5) Research Questions were raised and the Structural Questionnaire was used as an interview schedule to gather the necessary data relevant to this study. The Structural Questionnaire was administered to a sample size of fifty (50) teachers from a population sample of five (5) private and five (5) public primary schools in Oredo Local Government Area, Benin City. The essential data of this study were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to account for the distribution and responses.
The findings emerging from the study showed that the level of sanitary practices in early childhood education schools in Benin City is commendable. The Classrooms were swept and cleaned regularly; the potties and toilets were also kept clean. Additionally, The strategies that could be employed to improve sanitation in early childhood schools includes; supervision of classrooms and school grounds, the employment of more cleaners and skilled laborers, the classrooms should be swept immediately after the pupils finish eating their lunch, the classrooms should not be littered with paper and biscuit wrapper, and drinking and hand washing water should be made available by the school management.
The condition of sanitary practices and facilities in early childhood education schools based on the result obtained, indicate that the facilities to some extent in public and private early childhood establishments meets the required intentionally stipulated standards for early childhood schools.
The findings of this study will enable the teachers, caregivers, management of early childhood schools, to better understand and cultivate a clean learning environment and also stimulate further study on the survey of sanitation practices in early childhood schools.
