IMAGINE coming to school one morning and finding everything in a total mess.

Garbage bins turned over and litter scattered all over the school yard.

As you enter your classroom it is even worse than the outside.

Bits of paper are scattered all over the floor and desks causing the classroom
to look very untidy.

Bits of food from the previous day are struck to the floor and the desks and
the classrooms are looking very untidy.

Is that what a clean school means to you?

That is certainly not what it means to me.

A clean classroom is one in which the floors are regularly mopped. Mopping is
necessary since children sometimes spill drink and bits of food at lunch time.
If the sticky substances are allowed to remain, flies and other insects such
as cockroaches would be present in the classrooms.

This creates an unhealthy environment for children since this spread diseases
such as diarrhea. Dust should not be allowed to accumulate in the classrooms.
Windows, walls and cupboards should be wiped regularly, also. cobwebs should
not be allowed to build up on the walls.

Information from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital indicates that there is an
increase in the number of asthma cases in Barbados.

Among these sufferers are children attending my school. Since over exposure to
dust can bring on an asthma attack, every effort should be made on the part of
the school to remove this source from the school compound.

Dust not only affects asthmatics, but suffers of allergy related illness.

Each classroom should contain a covered bin. This prevents flies and other
pests from entering these bins.

Covered bins should be provided both inside and outside so that school
children can dispose of their litter.


These bins should be emptied daily so that they would not be overfilled and
spill over.

Teachers should help

Effort should be made by teachers plus class monitors to ensure that all
garbage is placed in the bins provided and not throughout the classrooms and
in desks pockets.

An untidy classroom does not provide a healthy environment for learning to
take place.

The closing of the cupboard is also important. If the cupboards are not kept
closed, rodents will go and leave their dropping on the books.

If students touch them without knowing they can get leptospirosis and other
diseases. If rats get in they can nibble at the books and that would be very
dangerous.

It is also vital to keep the bathrooms clean. Cleaning the bathrooms doesn't
just mean mopping and scrubbing with water, Water alone wouldn't do.

It needs to be accompanied by strong disinfectants to kill all germs and
bacteria.

The school should also try to provide bathrooms with antimicrobia soap. I have
learnt that only this type of soap can penetrate the germs which live deep
under the layers of the skin.

Bar soap which is generally provided spread germs from one person to another.

The surroundings of the school should also be clean. The grass should be
neatly trimmed to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.

They can spread terrible diseases such as dengue, malaria and yellow fewer and
both children and teachers can be seriously affected.

Make us aware

In order to achieve the objective of having a clean school environment, an
awareness campaign for students should be launched in the school.

This should make children more aware of their environment, the importance of
keeping it clean, and finally, how each student can play her part in achieving
this objective.

The Parent Teacher Association and other organisation in the district such as
the Silver Sands Community Council, could be asked to donate garbage cans and
containers which would be used for growing plants and flowers.

Personnel including health workers can be invited to lecture children and
other environment and ways in which it can be preserved.

There are many benefits to be achieved by the school from fostering a clean
school environment. Children would be more disciplined and orderly. When they
become adults, cleanliness would be part of them.

Hence their surroundings would be clean and we will all have a beautiful and
healthy country.

--SHANTELL HAREWOOD. St Christopher Girls School

(first prize Winner in the 7-11 age Group)