Among the requirements for ensuring students' health and improving the quality of education are spacious schools and clean, hygienic environments. But toilets are still a problem at many schools in Dong Van District, Ha Giang Province. Lo Kim Dung, 10, a student at Sinh Lung School, said: "There are no sanitary toilets at school. The foul odor can be detected in the classrooms. We have to go to the corn garden to relieve ourselves, and we could get wet in the rain or cut our hands on corn leaves."

Dung, like many of her classmates, has to hold back, cover her nose or dash in and out when she needs to use the toilet in school. Many of the toilets are temporary structures built against cliffs, covered with corrugated iron, and with no separation between male and female areas.

The students yearn for clean, beautiful and big toilets.

Understanding the lack of facilities and its psychological and health effects on children, Hope Foundation and probiotic brand Enterogermina have been carrying out the School Hygiene Project since 2022, mainly in disadvantaged mountainous areas in the north, such as Muong Nhe District in Dien Bien Province, and Van Ho and Song Ma Districts in Son La Province. A survey identified Dong Van District in Ha Giang as one of the first stops, not only due to the lack of school toilets but also because of its difficult and dangerous rocky terrain and long dry season.

Many sanitation facilities in Dong Van are severely damaged while some places completely lack toilets or have only temporary ones.

According to statistics from the district Department of Education and Training collected in August, schools in the area have 180 toilets for students and 63 for teachers. Since Dong Van has almost 27,000 students and 1,500 teachers, it has a shortage of 88 toilets for the former and 42 for the latter.

Dong Van is the country’s northernmost district and home to the sacred Lung Cu flagpole, which symbolizes territorial sovereignty, and The Road to Happiness, the result of sacrifices and a symbol of the power and solidarity of young people of all ethnicities.

"We hope to team up with the sponsors, Enterogermina and Sanofi Vietnam, to undertake a meaningful project in a special location like Dong Van," a Hope Foundation spokesperson stated. The project, launched in April, was initially implemented effortlessly thanks to the sponsor's trust and commitment to the School Hygiene Project in Van Ho District, Son La.

It was carried out during the rainy season in Dong Van, when there is water after six months of dry weather and lack of drinking water. But since the work was carried out in a remote location, many construction sites lacked proper roads for access, and the challenging environment made the project difficult.

Deployment during the rainy season is both an advantage and a disadvantage because it makes transportation difficult while construction has to wait for sunny days.

The spokesperson said: "The road is already difficult to walk on normal days and impossible on wet days. Landslides and traffic delays were caused by stormy weather”. Because the surroundings are mostly rocky mountains, vacant land area to build new toilets are limited in some schools, while the terrain is steep. The schools had to negotiate with neighbors to get land, which took a long time, to build regular toilets.

Le Quang Hien, deputy head of the Department of Education and Training, Dong Van District, spoke about the difficulties, saying the department always actively coordinates with and connects the government, schools and the Hope Foundation to successfully implement the project.

Despite difficulties and hardships, the project team worked hard to complete the project on schedule. After three months of construction, 20 septic restrooms with 136 standard toilets and 60 sinks for hand wash were handed over to the schools.

The project also donated three water filtration tanks, each with a volume of 30 m3, not only for filtering water but also storing it in the dry season. The total cost of construction was around VND3.33 billion, of which Hope Foundation provided VND2.67 billion. The project helps nearly 5,000 students and teachers have standard hygiene conditions, prevent the risk of diarrhea and change their daily habits.

Hope Foundation says the project's standard sanitation facilities, hygienic water system will serve as models for other neighborhoods to replicate and synchronize. The project intends to impact the hygiene habits of students' families and the surrounding communities.

Hope Foundation also partnered with Sanofi Vietnam to organize a School Hygiene Festival at Sinh Lung Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities to help convey the spirit of the project. Through a variety of activities, the festival created an opportunity to engage with and teach children about basic school hygiene and digestive health. Over 700 students took part in a number of activities like singing and dancing, quizzes, circle games, sand painting, and the "Hy vong xanh" (Green Hope) drawing contest.

Access to better facilities also helps raise children's awareness of hygiene and health. Furthermore, clean toilets contribute to preventing diarrhea among them.

"We believe that students will not only improve their awareness of hygiene but also their awareness of environmental protection through this project," Doak Kevin, general manager of Sanofi Vietnam's Consumer Healthcare, said.

Responding to the project workers, Phan Thi Niem, a teacher at the Lung Tao Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, said that awareness of school hygiene is high among highland people.

Students have improved markedly, know how to clean their toilets and guide and help their friends bring water to flush every day. Since the toilets were handed over and put into use, the most obvious change so far is that the educational environment has improved as students no longer fear going to the toilet and are more motivated to learn.

Ha Dinh Phong, head of the Department of Education and Training of Dong Van District, found that students in the area now know how to use the new toilet and wash their hands properly. The project helps children get access to hand soap, toilets and other basic facilities that schools have long lacked. Many students are gradually understanding the importance of school hygiene and how to use and preserve it.

"I used to feel uncomfortable going to the bathroom, but I gradually had to adapt," Sung A Ly, a fifth grader at Dinh Lung School, Ta Phin Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, said. "My friends and I no longer have to rush out of the toilets because of the bad odor. Washing our hands after using the toilets also protects our health." Educating children on how to use and maintain toilets helps form regular hygiene habits, which leads to good health and prevents diarrhea. "I always wished for a new, bigger and cleaner toilet, and now my wish has come true," Du Khanh Ngan, a fourth grader at Ma Le High School for Ethnic Minorities and Primary School, said. Mai Thi Thanh Huong, head of Sanofi Vietnam's external relations department, was pleased with the project's results after seeing the innocent smiles and hopeful eyes of Dong Van students during the School Hygiene Festival. "We want to give students a good educational environment," she said. "With the School Hygiene Project, children can learn and develop good hygiene habits to be healthy enough to study at school and become aspiring citizens in the future."

Looking back at the outstanding effort amidst the gigantic gray rocks of the rocky plateau, the project workers expressed excitement and happiness, and also had a word of advice. "We want to remind teachers and students to keep the buildings clean and beautiful and try to change the hygiene habits so that children and their families have better health," Vu Ngoc Anh, School Hygiene Project’s Leader from Hope Foundation said.

Two months after the toilets were built, Lo Kim Dung, Sung A Ly and other students are no longer afraid of going to the bathroom at school.

Children now enjoy a more hygienic and secure learning environment, and the gap in educational quality between the highlands and the plains seems to be narrowing. The School Hygiene Project is part of the School Light program that seeks to replace degraded toilets and reduce the risk of diarrhea.

So far 69 sanitary projects have been finished, with 31 others in various stages of planning, benefiting over 20,000 students and teachers in highland and disadvantaged schools. This year the Hope Foundation, together with probiotic brand Enterogermina, restarted the School Hygiene Project in Dong Van, Ha Giang.

The project has built 20 toilets, installed clean water filtration systems at several schools and helped teach students good hygiene habits. To join hands with the project, readers can learn more here.