Evaluation of Primary School Health Environment in Ido/Osi Local Government Area, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Background: School environment entails the sum total of the physical, biological, social, and emotional environment within which members of the school community operate. It is essential to make the school environment healthy to promote and protect the health of school pupils as well as their safety. This study aimed at finding the level of implementation of a Healthy School Environment (HSE) in Ido/Osi Local Government Area (LGA) of Ekiti State.
Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study carried out among 48 private and 19 public primary schools using a standardised checklist and direct observation.
Results: The teacher-to-pupil ratio was 1:16 in public schools and 1:10 in private schools. The leading source of water in 47.8% of the schools was well water. Most, 97%, of the schools practiced open dumping of refuse. Private schools had more school buildings with strong walls and good roofs with doors and windows which provided adequate ventilation compared to the public schools (p- 0.001). No school was located close to an industrial area, however, none had a safety patrol team. Only 34.3% of schools had a fence and 31.3% had terrains prone to flooding. Only 3% of the schools, all private schools, attained the minimum acceptable score on the school environment.
Conclusion: The status of school environment was poor in the study location and school ownership did not make any much impact as there was no difference in the situations of school environment between public and private schools.
Competing Interests: The Authors declare that no competing interest exists
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