In many restrooms across the school, it is a common sight to see unflushed toilets, strewn toilet paper,

wet toilet seats and dirty sinks. These present health risks to other users, who inevitably become
exposed to germs due to the poor quality of hygiene in restrooms. Moreover, in a tightly-packed school
where potential illnesses can easily travel from student to student, it is in each person’s best interest to
maintain a higher standard of health, which can begin by treating a frequented spot—a bathroom—with
hygienic respect.More responsibility must be taken to improve toilet facilities in school environments, in
order to increase student wellbeing, health and productivity. Schools must also shift their perspectives
towards small concerns such as these as they will improve the school’s larger function. At the moment,
poorly facilitated toilets are affecting attendance and wellbeing, thereby threatening the overall
performance of a school. By shifting perspectives and taking more accountability when it comes to the
state of school washrooms, we might enhance students’ wellbeing and find solutions to prevent
absenteeism. (Hilite,2019)

Many students tend to avoid using the school restroom if they are dirty and unhygienic. This puts
pressure on the bladder, leading to various health issues such as lower urinary tract dysfunction, which
can cause lifelong issues. Similarly, avoiding the restroom is also one of the key reasons for
gastrointestinal issues, such as chronic constipation among students. On the other hand, those who use
dirty school toilets are exposed to the transmission of disease-causing germs and pathogens.

Unilever Plc, one of the world’s biggest multinational consumer goods companies, recently conducted a
four-country (India, UK, Poland and South Africa) survey to find out the impact of dirty bathrooms on
students’ learning and health. In the study, it was found that nearly 1 in 5 students is unable to
concentrate in school because of the physical discomfort they experience when they avoid going to the
restroom. The survey also found that 1 in 10 students deliberately skipped food and water to avoid
using a school restroom.

According to a recent survey of 630 highschool students, conducted by Bradley Corp, 68% of
respondents stated restrooms that are inadequately maintained or unclean. Roughly 50% of the
students queried described the condition of their school restrooms as poor or fair. 19% claimed to never
frequent it in part because they’re dirty, smelly, or have broken or old toilets, sinks, and door.

The negative impact of poorly maintained school restrooms is clearly significant and spreads beyond the
bathroom doors to the entire school. Female students are even more inclined to be negatively
influenced by run-down school restrooms.

Poorly maintained restrooms are unhygienic and unsafe, likely harboring several common diseases
which contribute to the epidemic levels of student absenteeism, including E.coli Norovirus, and
Influenza. Avoiding the restroom altogether also carries serious health consequences.

Suppressing the urge to pee can damage a growing bladder, thickening and aggravating the bladder wall
and increasing a child’s risk for accidents, bedwetting, and urinary tract infections. Ignoring the urge to
poop wreaks even more havoc. Stool piles up, stretching the rectum and pressing against the bladder.
Constipation, epidemic among U.S. children, causes increased urinary frequency and urgency and is the
direct cause of virtually all bedwetting as well as daytime accidents. All of these factors contribute to
unnecessary challenges that distract students from focusing on their studies, negatively impacting their
performance and grades, and resulting in the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars each year in
taxpayer money.

Fortunately, in regards to the health and sanitation of the facilities’ restrooms, there is a simple, cost-
effective solution. Studies have shown that daily cleaning and disinfection of regularly traversed facilities
have a positive impact on student attendance, which correlates directly to performance and grades.
Cleaning and disinfecting every student restroom at every school in a district, top to bottom, every day
with conventional cleaning tools and products is cost-prohibitive, which is likely the reason the
bathrooms sit in the current state of disrepair we are not witnessing. Implementing high-performance
tools, such as microfiber, vacuum floor scrubbers, and electrostatic disinfection appliances, will
significantly reduce the amount of time required to clean and disinfect each bathroom, floor to ceiling.
Combining those tools with green cleaning and disinfection products will also cut down on costs
associated with storage, shipping, and natural resource use, as well as eliminate the release of toxic
chemicals into the local environment that contributes to student and faculty illness and performance
issues. (Bradley Corp, 2019)

Of course, maintaining these standards may not be easy for many students. The aforementioned sights
can be sickening and even unhygienic for students to deal with. However, while the task of maintaining
restrooms often falls on this school’s custodial staff, the responsibility of dealing with these problems
still partially goes to students as well. If students see problems beyond their control, they should notify
administration and custodial services, who may become too busy to notice these problems. In this way,
the student community at this school can help promote a higher standard of cleanliness.

METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of students regarding the impact of poorly
maintained restroom facilities on their health and academic performance in school.

The study followed a phenomenological qualitative research design, which involves collecting and
analyzing first-person experience-based data. The study used purposive sampling in order to recruit
students who have had firsthand experiences with poorly maintained restroom facilities in their schools.

The population of the study are students who attend Sto. Domingo Integrated High School that has
poorly maintained restroom facilities. The sample are students who have experienced these facilities
and are willing to participate in the study. Interviewing students is an important method for collecting
data in our phenomenological research because it allows us to gain an understanding of their subjective
experiences in regards of our topic. In this study, our goal is to explore the experiences of students
regarding the impact of poorly maintained restroom facilities on their health and academic performance
in school. Interviewing students provided us with firsthand accounts of these experiences, which can be
used to identify patterns and themes related to this issue. Additionally, interviewing students allows us
to probe for more detailed information and clarify any questions or concerns that the students may
have.

Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the sample. The questions we
asked them was designed to gather detailed accounts of the students’ experiences with the restroom
facilities in their schools. Those questions came from our statement of the problem which are “What are
the negative effects of poor school restrooms to students’ health?” , “How does the effects of poor
school restrooms affects students’ learning?”, and “What are the possible interventions to aid the
negative effects of poor school restrooms maintenance?”. The analysis is guided by the
phenomenological approach, which involves identifying and describing the essential features and
characteristics of the students’ experiences.

The study followed ethical principles of informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, and respect for
autonomy. The students’ participation in the study were voluntary, and they have the right to refuse or
withdraw from the study at any time. The data were de-identified to protect the students' anonymity,
and all personal information obtained during the study will be kept confidential.

Overall, this methodology provides a framework for a qualitative study that seeks to explore the
experiences of students regarding the impact of poorly maintained restroom facilities on their health
and academic performance in school.

INTERVIEW GUIDE

SOP#1 What are the negative effects of poor school restroom maintenance to students’ health

QUESTION 1 What are the negative effects of poor school restroom maintenance to students’ health?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

QUESTION 2 How has poor school restroom maintenance affected your health?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________
Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

QUESTION 3 Do you think poor school restroom maintenance can cause illness to students?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

INTERVIEW GUIDE

SOP#3 What are the possible interventions to aid the negative effects of poor school restroom
maintenance?

QUESTION 1 What are the possible interventions to aid the negative effects of poor school restroom
maintenance?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________
QUESTION 2 Do you think there are any specific tools or supplies needed to improve restroom
maintenance and sanitation?

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

QUESTION 3 Do you think provision of school hygiene kits as an intervention is effective?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

INTERVIEW GUIDE

SOP#2 How does the negative effects of poor school restrooms maintenance affects students’ learning?

QUESTION 1 How does the negative effects of poor school restrooms maintenance affects students’
learning?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________
QUESTION 2 Have you experience not skipping class because of this issue?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

QUESTION 3 How do you think poorly maintained restroom impact students academic performance?

RESPONSES

Respondent 1# _________________________________________________________________

Respondent 2#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 3#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent 4#__________________________________________________________________

Respondent5#__________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

Exposure to dirty comfort rooms can have considerable bad effects on the students health. This
situation occurs because of the poor maintenance in most public high schools. How can this situation
affect students health and learning? How can this possibly be solved?

According to Felipe Agoncillo’s (2017) research of Highschool students, one of the reasons why
students find public high schools’ comfort rooms inconvenient to use is due to poor maintenance. If this
continues, students might catch diseases that may prevent them from coming to school and resulting to
them failing their class.

A survey of a large sample of teachers in Washington, D.C. and Chicago found that schools’ comfort
rooms were shown to have direct effect on the health of the students. (Buckey, Schneider and Shay,
2003). In addition, poor maintenance can cause illness to students such as those related to allergic
reactions like irritation of the eyes, nose, and asthma and respiratory distress. The truth is, many schools
have not met sanitary requirements and keeping up hygiene. Interventions that could potentially
improve poorly maintained restrooms at school might include encouraging students to actively
participate in maintaining restrooms by keeping them clean and reporting any issues or concerns they
may have. Schools can also invest in upgrading equipments, such as higher quality toilet paper, hand
soap, and other cleaning materials, which can help to improve the overall cleanliness of restrooms.
Parents can also help the school by contributing when there is not enough hygiene kits for the students.

This situation is one of the problems that schools have been facing for the past years. It is important
that this should be studied and be provided with solution because this problem is what schools
commonly face. We conducted this study to solve this issue to ensure that the students will not catch
illness due the poorly maintenance restrooms.If the solution for this can’t be determined, it might lead
to drastic consequences such as students having severe illness. The importance of this study is that it
can be a guide for the people who are authorize to solve this kind of issue.

Using non-probability sampling and purposive method, this study will recruit students from Sto.
Domingo Integrated Highschool. This study will use a semi-structured interview to assess students’
experiences with poor school restroom maintenance and its impact on their health and academic
performance. The research will involve a comprehensive interviews with the students to understand the
scope of the issue and potential solutions. The ultimate goal of the study is to identify ways to improve
school restroom maintenance and to promote student health and academic achievement.

Poor School Restroom Maintenace: Negative Effects on The Students’ Health

And Learning and its Possible Interventions

A Research Paper

Presented to

The class of Mrs. Argecel T. Nemis

Santo Domingo Integrated High School

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements in

Practical Research 1

By:
Malunda, Alea Aico

Reyes, Jamaica

Plata, Mhia

Sta Clara, Mersan

Tomenio, Jolibeth

Reyes, Kyth

Tanlim, Juanito

Solis,Shaun

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of the study is to discover the impacts of having poor school restroom maintenance
to students’ health and learning and the possible intervention maintained restroom.

Significance of the study

This study is important and will serve as a guide to create possible interventions on how to make our
restrooms’ cleanliness be maintained. We conducted this study so we can formulate solutions to aid the
negative effects of poorly maintained restroom that students are experiencing.

We researchers believe that the result of this study could be used as a guide in constructing an effective
plan to solved the issue about restrooms. This study also benefits the teachers and inform them that
their students are facing this kind of problem regarding the restrooms. They could help each other in
implementing plans in helping the students. The primary beneficiaries of the study are the students. If
this problem is solved then they won’t experience this problem anymore. This will also benefits the
future researchers. This study will be useful references from them if they plan to make any related
study. This study may be one of the basis they can use.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Major Problem: This aims to investigate the negative effects of poor school restroom maintenance to
students’ health and and learning and possible interventions.

Specific Problem: Specifically, it seeks to answer the following question:

What are the negative effects of poor school restroom maintenance to students health?

How does the negative effects of poor school restrooms maintenance affects students learning?

What are the possible interventions to aid the negative effects of poor school restroom maintenance?

CONSENT FORM

I ________________ understand the purpose

Of the under-mentioned study

And voluntarily give my permission freely.

Poor School Restroom Maintenance: Negative Effects on the Students Health and Learning and the
Possible Interventions

Name and Signature of the

Participant