By Saad Muhammad
Many public bathrooms are very unsanitary and full of germs, including the ones at New Utrecht High School. The unsanitary conditions of the toilets can further lead to the spread of unwanted germs. In many public bathrooms, the toilets do not have lids, and flushing can scatter bacteria across surfaces. When toilets are flushed, the swirling water shoots microscopic particles of waste into the air, which can spray fecal matter, viruses and bacteria within it across bathroom surfaces, including countertops and nearby toiletries. In a recent study, skin-associated bacteria were found in areas often touched by hands: doors, stalls, faucets and soap dispensers. Furthermore, diseases related to the Immune system and such bacterias like Bacteroidetes are more prevalent on toilet handles and seats, likely due to fecal contamination from direct contact or toilet spray. At NUHS, the bathrooms also lack privacy because of the absence of door locks and the broken doors themselves. Due to the poor ventilation system in our bathrooms, this causes the bathroom and halls of NUHS to be foul-smelling. The smell and odor produces harmful symptoms to various human organs. There is also a lack of hand soap and paper towels in the bathrooms which further promotes the spread of diseases and pushes the unsanitary conditions of the public bathrooms to its limits. These conditions are all seen in the current bathrooms at New Utrecht High School, and they can negatively affect our health.
Personally, I think that these present conditions of the bathrooms at NUHS can cause serious problems to its students. The school should provide the best conditions for its students in every aspect of their daily life. If more awareness and attention is brought to this issue, then superiors are more likely to take action in one way or another. Bathroom ventilation does not cost too much money, and simultaneously, provides a better environment for all the users, including students and teachers. In today’s world, privacy is the most valuable aspect of our lives which we all want to protect at any cost. But the absence of door locks and broken doors destroys the very aspect of physical privacy which can lead to other conflicts such as bullying. Similarly, all of the problems I have stated above can easily be solved through cooperation of the students and supervisors responsible for the bathroom conditions. The hand soap and paper towels should be replaced as soon as the previous one runs out. This improves the bathroom conditions exponentially as well as the health of anyone who uses them. However, the school's system is not the only one at blame here, we do not try to do anything to prevent these conditions either. We must start change by ourselves first, which will force the responsible to fix these problems. Let's start by changing our usage of the bathroom for the better.
Posted 02/02/2020