School Hygiene Management Practices and Regularity of Girl-Child in Government-Aided Secondary Schools in Soroti District, Uganda

The general objective of the study was to examine the relationship between school hygiene management practices and regularity of girl-child in government-aided secondary schools in Soroti District, Uganda. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between provision of hygiene education, promotion materials and monitoring and evaluation and regularity of girl-child in government-aided secondary schools in Soroti District. The sequential explanatory design was employed. Data was collected from on 87 girl-children, 5 senior women teachers and 5 head teachers. Quantitative data was principally gathered from the girl children using a self-administered and closed ended questionnaire. Qualitative data was gathered from the head teachers and senior women teachers using an interview schedule. Data was analyzed using descriptive, inferential statistics, themes (for qualitative), presented in Tables and interpreted with narratives. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient results showed strong positive and statistically significant relationship between provision of hygiene education (r= 0.985, n=87, P<0.05), promotion materials (r= 0.987, n=87, P<0.05), and monitoring and evaluation (r= 0.984, n=87, P<0.05) and regularity of girl-child in government aided secondary schools in Soroti District. The study concludes that there exists a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between school hygiene management practices (provision of hygiene education, promotion materials and monitoring and evaluation) and regularity of girl-child in government-aided secondary schools in Soroti District. Recommendations were: integration of hygiene into the national curriculum, regular school assessments, institutionalizing hygiene education sessions, and active engagement in hygiene education activities.