The Implementation of Hygiene Practices in Early Childhood Education Centers in Londiani Sub-County, Kericho County (Published)
Hygiene practices in Early Childhood Education are very essential. It helps the child to be strong, active, responsible, confident and perform well on the day to day activities. The study sought to investigate the implementation of hygiene practices in Early Childhood Education Centres. The study adopted the active learning instructional theory. The study used descriptive survey research design to investigate hygiene practices. The study was conducted in Londiani Sub-County, Kericho County. The target population comprised of eighty (80) early childhood educational centres out of which twenty four (24) were sampled for the study. The random sampling technique was used to sample twenty four (24) headteachers and forty eight (48. Research instruments included Questionnaires, Interviews and Observation schedules. Data was collected, then analyzed using descriptive statistics. The output was presented by the use of frequency tables, bar graphs and pie charts. The findings established that schools in Londiani have hygiene practices, but they are not fully implemented due to lack of proper facilities. The study concluded that toilets were dirty in majority of the centres which may affect the health status of the children causing absenteeism due to frequent sicknesses. The study recommended that County government be involved in supporting ECD centres to ensure that funding and purchase of proper facilities are made available in the schools.
Keywords: Hygiene, Implementation, Practices
Extent of Hand Washing Practice among Secondary School Students in Ebonyi State, Nigeria (Published)
High incidence of diarrhoeal diseases has been noted among secondary school students in Nigeria. The place of contaminated hands in the transmission of these diseases especially living quarter with close proximity like schools has been observed. These diseases can be prevented if students wash their hands with running water and soap. This cross-sectional survey was designed to determine to what extent secondary school students in Ebonyi State practice proper handwashing. The sample comprised 420 male and female students in both junior and senior classes selected through a multi-sampling method from government schools, located in both urban and rural area of the Ebonyi State were used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a 3-point scaled, 18-item self-structured questionnaire eliciting responses on extent of handwashing with soap and running water in 15 situations requiring handwashing. Face validation of the instrument was obtained by the judgement of 5 experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha, which yielded 0.862 reliability coefficient. The copies of the questionnaire were distributed among the students at an agreed upon time with the school by trained research assistance. The extent of handwashing practice was determined using the criterion means of 2.01-3.0 as high extent, 1.01-2.0 as low extent and 0.1-1.0 as very low extent. T-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The extent of handwashing was found to be low among secondary school students with a mean score of 1.31. It was found that male students practice handwashing significantly higher than their female counterparts and that there was no significant difference in handwashing practice of student by level of study of students and by location of residence of the students. The findings of the study have implications for the handwashing campaign in Nigeria, the health of the students, method of health education and hygiene education curriculum development. Recommendations were made which included that handwashing be promoted using the mass media, improvement on hygiene education curriculum and its delivery and provision of handwashing facilities for schools to concretize learning.
Keywords: Gender, Handwashing, Hygiene, Location, Secondary School, Students, practice