Assessment of Environmental Health and Safety Status of Public High Schools in Jahrom City in Educational Year of 2015

Reza Rahmanian Koshkaki ¹, Marzieh Kargar Jahromi² and Afifeh Rahmanian Koshkaki³

¹MSc of Environmental Engineering, Department of Health, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran.

²Community Health Nursing, Faculty Member, Jahrom University of Medical Science, Jahrom, Iran.

³MSc of Nursing, Department of Nursing, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran.

Corresponding Author E-mail: afifeh61 @yahoo.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2398

ABSTRACT: One of the most important factors in the education of children is the established physical environment of schools. Proper consideration of the physical, sanitary, and safety issues in educational environments is essential to children's physical and psychological growth and success at learning. The present study is a cross-sectional piece of research conducted on 67 of the junior high-schools of Jahrom, Iran, and addressed the environmental Health of the classes, sanitation, drinking fountains, toilets, light in the classes and restrooms, and buffets. The data collection instrument was the school environmental Health evaluation questionnaire which contains 33 two-choice questions. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 15, descriptive statistics, chi-square, Kruskal–Wallis, and Fisher's exact test. 53.7% of the schools were newly-built, 46.3% were old, 82% were public, and 18% were private schools. Based on the results and the statistical indexes, there was a significant difference between the old and newly-built schools in terms of environmental Health: the classes in the new schools were in better conditions (p<0.039). Newly-built schools have much more hygienic restrooms: there is a significant relationship between the age of the school building and the sanitary conditions of the restrooms (p<0.009). Overall, the results show that the status of environmental Health is better in new schools than in old schools and the latter need to be renovated.

KEYWORDS: environmental Health; junior high-schools

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