The Status and Challenges in the Implementation of Wash Program of DepEd Sarangani: the Case of Lun Padidu Central Elementary School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene are essential to achieve optimum health. Schools are considered as the second home of children and yet schools in poor communities in the Philippines are the least served wherein more than 7,000 primary schools have no steady water source and more than 90,000 school toilets need to be constructed to meet the basic standard. Thus, in 2016 the Department of Education implemented the WASH in Schools Program by virtue of Department of Education Order No. 10 Series of 2016 to address the gaps in implementing the WASH program in Alabel, Sarangani Province.

METHOD

This study used a mixed method design in analyzing and interpreting the data using survey questionnaires and focus group discussion. The study used a stratified random sampling technique in selecting the respondents.RESULTSFindings showed that in Lun Padidu Central Elementary School, the status of implementation of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene is highly implemented with a score of 3.88. However, it has been agreed and found that the school has encountered challengesin terms of four areas including political, economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspect with a score of 3.69.

DISCUSSIONS

In the case of Lun Padidu Central Elementary School, it has been found that the school highly implemented the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program of the Department of Education specifically the six pillars of the program namely (1) Accessibility and Availability of Water Supply, (2) Quality and Safety, (3) Toilet Facilities, (4) Solid Waste Management, (5) Personal Hygiene and Sanitation and (6) Hygiene Education. But, despite its implementation, the learners, teachers, parents and school nurse agreed that they have experienced challenges in sustaining the program. Among the four aspects of challenges, political got a score of3.29 and environmental aspect got a score of 3.37. The least and the socio-cultural aspect got the highest score of 4.37. The results showed that behavior played a crucial role in adopting the program for it is difficult for an individual to change what one believed and practiced over the years.