'Horror movie' toilets make British students afraid to go to school

(Dan Tri) - More than 1/10 parents in the UK said their children had asked to stay home from school because they were too afraid of the toilets at school. Many children "hold back" from going to the toilet because they are afraid of getting dirty.

A recent survey of 2,000 British parents with school-age children by charity Parentkind found that 17% of parents rated the school toilets where their children attend as unclean.

Nearly 31% of parents have reported this issue to the school. 11% of parents confirmed that their child had asked to be absent from school for reasons related to the school toilet.

School toilets are a nightmare for many students in the UK (Photo: DM).

Some parents said their children felt like they were “entering a horror movie” every time they needed to use the school toilet. The sight of cockroaches crawling on the toilet floor made the students feel scared.

“My child doesn't drink water during school hours so he doesn't have to go to the bathroom at school,” one parent shared.

Prolonged “holding” toilet time will affect both the physical and mental health of children. Mr. Jason Elsom - CEO of Parentkind - called on the British government to allocate more budget to invest in schools to upgrade the quality of toilet systems.

“We are leaving millions of children facing physical and mental health problems because of poor toilet conditions in schools.

Many children do not drink water or go to the toilet because they are afraid of getting dirty. This is unacceptable in a moderneducation system that is considered to be of the highest quality in the world,” said Mr. Elsom.

Some parents said their children complained about school toilets being dirty and smelly.

Mr. Pepe Di'Iasio - General Secretary of the Association of British School Leaders - admitted that the survey results just released by Parentkind were "sad but not surprising".

“We understand the importance of clean toilets, and schools are working hard to improve them. But with budget shortfalls, many schools do not have enough money to repair or upgrade them,” said Mr. Di'Iasio.

The British government has announced a budget of 2.3 billion pounds per year to repair dilapidated schools and 2.4 billion pounds per year to build new schools.

However, education experts say that the most urgent priority is to take care of essential items such as toilets in public schools, because this is a factor that directly affects the health and psychology of students, and even directly affects their ability to absorb knowledge at school.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nha-ve-sinh-nhu-phim-kinh-di-khien-hoc-sinh-anh-so-den-truong-20250616082322499.htm