Every morning when her child goes to school, the mother in Hanoi asks: Have you brought toilet paper?

"Hold off" going to the bathroom at school because it stinks and there's no toilet paper

Ms. MLP has two children attending primary school in Hoai Duc, Hanoi, and said her children often hold their pee at school.

"This situation has been going on for many years. When discussing in the parent group, parents said that all the children are like that. They are afraid that the toilets smell bad and there is no toilet paper," Ms. P. shared.

Ms. P. once suggested using the class fund to buy toilet paper for her children. However, most parents think that families should prepare for their children themselves.

What Ms. P. worries about is that her daughter is about to reach puberty, so hygiene needs to be more thorough than boys. The toilet needs not only paper but also a bidet and clean water.

"My children are still at the age of playing. They don't remember to bring their period papers every day. If my daughter forgets her period papers on the day of her period, it's a real crisis. Every morning before going to school, I have to ask her if she has brought her period papers," Ms. P. confided.

A school toilet is fully equipped with paper and hand towels (Photo: MVLomonosov School).

Having a daughter in 5th grade at a public school, Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Anh (Cau Giay, Hanoi) shares the same feelings as Ms. P.

"While advanced, modern schools are making efforts to put sanitary napkins in the restrooms to serve female students, many schools in Hanoi are still struggling with toilet paper rolls and bidets," Ms. Van Anh was indignant.

According to Ms. Van Anh, all classes at her children's school use the parent fund to buy toilet paper. The paper is placed in the classroom. The children take it as needed every time they go to the bathroom. Ms. Van Anh is not sure if the school provides toilet paper or not.

"In the past, students only studied one session, and hygiene awareness was also lower than today. Nowadays, children are at school all day. Poor hygiene greatly affects their health, especially girls. But it seems that schools do not pay attention to this," said Ms. Van Anh.

Universities also lack toilet paper.

NDM, a student at a university in Hanoi, confided: "From childhood to adulthood, I have never attended a school that had enough toilet paper in the restrooms. When I went to Hanoi to study at university, when the restrooms did not have paper, I considered it normal."

M. said that in the early morning, the university toilets were equipped with paper. However, by noon or afternoon, they ran out and were not replenished.

According to M., friends studying at other universities also told about this toilet paper shortage.

A principal shared that toilet paper is a "headache" for high schools due to funding issues.

Standard toilet at Thanh Cong Secondary School, Hanoi (Photo: Provided by the school).

"An elementary or middle school has an average of 2,000 students. The amount of toilet paper needed per day is huge.

Meanwhile, the budget for sanitation is not only toilet paper. The most important expense is hiring cleaning staff. Next are cleaning chemicals, detergents, hand sanitizers, etc.

Providing enough toilet paper is not easy for many schools if they do not balance their income and expenditure and have appropriate methods," said the principal.

According to him, instead of providing toilet paper in the restrooms, many schools choose to provide it in the classrooms so that homeroom teachers can manage and educate children about hygiene, from using paper economically to maintaining general hygiene.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Tung - Principal of MVLomonosov Secondary and High School - once shared with Dan Tri reporter that his school spends about 80 million VND per month on sanitation. This figure is a difficult financial problem for public schools to solve in order to have standard school toilets.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/moi-sang-con-di-hoc-ba-me-o-ha-noi-deu-hoi-da-mang-giay-ve-sinh-chua-20231217224209889.htm