Clean Water in Schools: Why Sanitation Changes Everything for Girls

For girls in water-scarce communities, access to clean water at school is not a convenience — it is the condition that makes education possible. Clean water for school girls means the difference between attending class and staying home, between staying in school through adolescence and dropping out before it matters most. There is a reason girls in these communities miss more school than boys. It is not an academic ability. It is a tap that does not work, a toilet that does not exist, or a two-hour walk to collect water before school even begins.

Why Clean Water for School Girls Changes Educational Outcomes

The relationship between clean water, school sanitation, and girls' educational outcomes is well-documented. According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2024 report on WASH in schools, girls miss up to 36 school days per year due to menstruation-related challenges combined with poor water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure. Only 31 percent of schools globally provide menstrual waste bins in girls' toilets, and only 39 percent provide menstrual health education.

Girls are disproportionately affected by the absence of safe water and sanitation in schools for two primary reasons.

First, without private, functioning toilets at school, adolescent girls managing menstruation have no dignified option. Many simply stay home — sometimes for several days each month. Over an academic year, this compounds into weeks of missed learning.

Second, in households without nearby water access, the task of daily collection falls primarily on women and girls. A girl who spends two hours collecting water before school arrives late, exhausted, or not at all. In communities across Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and other water-scarce countries, this pattern repeats daily across thousands of households.

Safe water and sanitation in schools breaks both patterns at once.

The Scale of the Problem: Sanitation in Schools

The WHO/UNICEF JMP 2024 report makes the scale plain: 427 million children attend schools without basic sanitation, 447 million without basic drinking water, and 646 million without basic handwashing facilities. These are not marginal gaps — they represent roughly a quarter of the world's schools.

In conflict-affected and displacement settings — where we operate — the deficit is wider still. Schools in these settings frequently lack functioning toilets, handwashing facilities, or any reliable water source on site. The consequences extend beyond hygiene. A school without clean water cannot sustain a feeding program. A school without private sanitation cannot retain adolescent girls.

What Changes When Girls Have Clean Water at School

When schools gain access to clean water and functioning sanitation, girls' attendance and retention improve consistently across documented studies.

Girls stay in school through adolescence. Private, sex-separated toilets allow adolescent girls to manage menstruation at school without missing days. The WHO/UNICEF JMP data shows that menstruation-related absences account for a significant portion of the 36 school days girls lose annually in affected communities.

Time previously spent on water collection is redirected. When a school has water on site, girls are freed from long collection journeys. That time becomes available for studying, attending class, and rest.

Disease burden decreases. Access to clean water and handwashing facilities reduces the spread of diarrheal disease, which is among the leading causes of school absence and child mortality in water-scarce settings. Fewer sick days means more learning days — for all students, but again disproportionately benefiting girls who bear more of the household care burden when family members fall ill.

The school becomes a community anchor. A school with clean water, solar lighting, and functioning sanitation is a safer, more dignified space — not just for students, but for the community. In displacement settings, this matters enormously.

Somalia: The Specific Context

Somalia presents one of the most acute combinations of water scarcity, displacement, and educational disadvantage in the world. Widespread poverty, limited infrastructure, and the legacy of prolonged conflict have left communities — particularly those in displacement camps — without reliable access to the basics.

We are currently delivering clean water, sanitation, and solar lighting to displaced communities across Somalia, providing families with the safety and dignity that functioning infrastructure makes possible. In 2025, we supported 423,843 people across Somalia — a program that includes water access as a foundational component of community recovery.

For girls in these communities, clean water in school is not a separate issue from education. It is education. A girl who cannot attend school consistently because of water and sanitation cannot build the foundation of literacy, numeracy, and confidence that shapes the rest of her life.

Islamic Case for Girls' Education and Water Access

The Prophet (PBUH) said: "The best charity is giving water to drink" (Sunan Ibn Majah). The Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools all recognize water provision as among the most meritorious forms of Sadaqah Jariyah — ongoing charity whose reward continues as long as people benefit from it (Sahih Muslim, hadith 1631).

The Islamic tradition places a strong emphasis on seeking knowledge as an obligation upon every Muslim — "Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim" (Sunan Ibn Majah) — without distinction of gender. Providing the conditions that allow girls to attend school consistently is, in this framework, directly connected to fulfilling that obligation.

A donation to clean water in schools is not simply a humanitarian investment. It is a contribution toward a community of learners — and the ongoing reward of every girl who stays in school because of it.

Give Clean Water to Schools in Somalia Through Human Appeal

Our Somalia Water Fund supports clean water delivery, sanitation infrastructure, and solar lighting for displaced communities across Somalia. Donations are Sadaqah and Zakat eligible.

Every contribution toward clean water in Somalia helps ensure that girls — and the communities around them — have the foundation they need to learn, stay healthy, and rebuild.

Sources
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP): WASH in Schools 2024 report — 427 million children lack basic sanitation; 447 million lack basic drinking water; 646 million lack basic hygiene; girls miss up to 36 school days annually; 31% of schools provide menstrual waste bins; 39% provide menstrual health education.
Hadith: Sunan Ibn Majah — "The best charity is giving water to drink."
Hadith: Sunan Ibn Majah — "Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim."
Hadith: Sahih Muslim, hadith 1631 — on three acts whose reward continues after death (ongoing charity, knowledge, righteous child).
Somalia Water Fund program — clean water, sanitation, and solar lighting for displaced communities.
2025 Somalia program data — 423,843 people supported across Somalia.

By