Weremba Primary School, located in Navakholo Sub County, Bunyala East Ward, serves a population of 745 pupils (388 girls and 357 boys). For the past 3–4 years, the school has faced significant sanitation and hygiene challenges. These included inadequate sanitary facilities and lack of access to clean and safe water which affected pupil’s health and academic performance. The poor state of school latrines, which were not being regularly cleaned due to water scarcity, led to an infestation of jiggers among pupils. They had to bring water from home or fetch it from unprotected sources during school hours, exposing them to waterborne diseases and reducing valuable learning time.
In response to these challenges, Weremba Primary School partnered with Community Asset Building and Development Action (CABDA) to construct Water Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities. Through this collaboration, the school mobilized locally available materials including sand, ballast, hardcore, off-cuts and unskilled labor to support construction of a Ferro cement water harvesting tankand12-door VIP latrines (8 for girls and 4 for boys with a urinal pit).
As a result of these interventions, the school now boasts of 10 functional latrines for boys and 16 for girls, supported by reliable access to clean and safe water. According to the Head Teacher, the sanitation facilities are regularly cleaned, and hygiene practices have significantly improved. “The performance of the school has really improved due to availability of sanitation facilities, and now the school is ranked position 2 in the entire sub-county,” she stated proudly.
The Board Chair also commended on the collaboration, noting that pupils now spend more time in class and are actively practicing good hygiene. Handwashing stations have been strategically installed in the school, reinforcing healthy behavior change through hand washing. This successful partnership highlights the transformative impact of CABDA investing in school WASH infrastructure not only on pupil health and dignity but also on academic outcomes.
