How Clean Water Helps Kids Stay in School
Clean Water = More Time in the Classroom
• Children, particularly girls, often miss school due to being tasked with fetching water for their families, access to clean water solves this issue..
• Drilling a well close to people’s homes reduces hours of walking
• Example: Drop in the Bucket often sees school enrollment double or sometimes even triple after drilling a well for a school.
Fewer Waterborne Diseases = Better Attendance
• Waterborne illnesses like diarrhea, typhoid, and intestinal worms are leading causes of missed school days
• Clean water reduces sickness allowing children to attend school more days each year and get a better education.
• School health stats before and after well installation
Girls’ Education and Gender Equality
• There are many reasons that cause girls to drop out of school, and some of these are easily preventable. Across sub-Saharan Africa girls often miss school due to being tasked with water collection. Many girls miss several days of school each month due to menstruation, so making sanitary pads available to them, we help them stay in school for the whole month and not miss any classes.
• Menstrual Hygiene Management programs + safe water = fewer dropouts
• Link to Drop in the Bucket’s Safe Spaces & pad distribution
How Clean Water Improves Learning
• When children are healthy and hydrated it is easier for them to focus and concentrate on their studies.
• Fewer absences = stronger academic performance
Loum Joe Collins Christopher from the Ongai primary school in Nwoya, Uganda “When I first arrived at the school there was no transparency, no accountability, and no record-keeping. The school lacked furniture, the grounds were overgrown, and it had only 400 pupils had enrolled that year. But by far, the biggest problem at the school was a lack of safe water and toilets. Within one year our attendance had grown to 741 and we expect to have more students next year. This is all due to the well that Drop in the Bucket drilled at the school”
One Well Can Transform a Whole School
“In the mornings the school would tell us we needed to go and fetch water. They asked us because we were older and stronger than the little children, but we did not want to miss school. The most frustrating situation was when we were studying for our final exams and they would make us stop to fetch water” ~ Priscilla student at the Bulumwaki Primary School in Uganda.
“I am happy about the new well! Happy about the health of my students. Happy about the hygiene of our girls and I’m happy our teachers are happy.” ~ Oliver, head teacher at the Bulumwaki Primary School in Uganda.
What You Can Do
Sponsor a well or donate to our education program
Donate a Well in Someone’s Name