The Central Council of the Ho Chi Minh Vanguard Children's Union (HVCU) and the Vietnam Toilet Association (VTA) signed an agreement in Hanoi on November 15 to build restrooms for children nationwide, especially in remote, mountainous and ethnic minority regions at a total cost of VND7.5 billion ($312,000).
The activity is meant to effectively implement the “Wishes for Children” program – a joint effort among the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU), the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Red Cross Society, as well as the project “Digital Vietnamese knowledge system”, contributing to the goal that all schools have toilets for students, half of them have enough toilets in line with regulations and 80% of toilets meet hygiene requirements under the School Health Program for the 2021-2025 period. It is also in response to World Toilet Day (November 19).
Under the agreement, 150 toilets will be built and handed over to remote and ethnic minority regions from November 2022 to December 2023.
Next year, the VTA will work closely with the HCYU Central Committee and the HVCU Central Council to build 100 restrooms meeting ASEAN standards in parks, streets and beaches.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, there are 188,000 restrooms at schools nationwide, 67 of them are usable and the remainder are in need of upgrade and reconstruction. (VietnamPlus [1])