Millions of children return to schools lacking clean water and working toilets | Report

Millions of children worldwide are starting a new academic year in schools where drinking water is unsafe, toilets are unusable, and handwashing facilities are absent, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 22 September 2026. The joint publication reviews a decade of progress on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in schools from 2015 to 2025. It warns that gains recorded over the period remain insufficient to guarantee universal access. WASH services are considered critical in schools because they affect learning, health, and dignity, particularly for girls. The findings raise concern about the ability of countries to meet global targets by the end of the decade.

A decade of uneven gains

Between 2015 and 2025, the proportion of schools with basic drinking water services rose from 67 per cent to 78 per cent. Global coverage of basic sanitation increased from 67 per cent to 77 per cent over the same period. Basic hygiene services expanded from 59 per cent to 72 per cent. Despite these improvements, the report cautions that the world remains off track in ensuring universal access by 2030, as stipulated under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without accelerated efforts, the SDG commitments on WASH in schools will not be reached.

Hundreds of millions still without services

In 2025, 429 million school-age children lacked drinking water services at school, while 460 million lacked a basic sanitation service. An additional 545 million lacked a basic hygiene service, including water and soap for handwashing. Significant inequalities persist, with the widest gaps found in low-income and fragile settings. Only 54 per cent of schools in low-income countries had basic drinking water services, 50 per cent had basic sanitation, and 35 per cent had basic hygiene. In wealthier countries, coverage of all three services exceeded 99 per cent.

Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind

Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the lowest levels of coverage globally, with fewer than half of schools offering basic drinking water services, at 46 per cent. Basic sanitation reached 43 per cent of schools, while only 39 per cent had basic hygiene services. Nearly three in five children globally who lack basic drinking water at school, around 250 million, live in the region. Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to some 264 million children who lack basic sanitation and 282 million who lack basic hygiene. These figures underline the scale of the challenge for the region.

Faster progress required by 2030

Achieving universal access for both basic drinking water and hygiene services in schools over the next five years would require a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress. For sanitation services, the pace would need to accelerate fivefold. UNICEF stressed that “without faster action, hundreds of millions of children will still lack these essential services at school in 2030.” The report calls attention to the urgency of scaling up investment and delivery. Its findings set a benchmark for measuring future action on WASH in schools.