Loos in Action

Makeover for a 22 years-old toilet? No problem for the parents, pupils and staff at Peixin Primary School who joined hands to transform an old school toilets into a Garden Sanctuary.

Peixin Primary School Project Happy Toilet 2007 was the result of a collaborative partnership of the school’s stakeholders such as parent volunteers, non-teaching staff, teachers and pupils.

It all started with a service learning workshop that the pupils attended. They were later challenged to work on improvements for the school applying the skills that they have learnt from the workshop. Wet tissues stuck onto the ceilings of the school toilets irked many of the pupils so an idea of allowing pupils to take ownership of their toilets came into mind.

That brought forth Project HAPPY TOILET 2007. At the initial stage, pupils started the process of working out the designs, budget and manpower needed.

After preliminary planning, the pupils proceeded to work on a ‘pilot’ toilet to convey the message of responsible toilet behaviour to the rest of the pupils.

As the school is currently undergoing Prime, (Programme for Rebuilding and IMproving Existing Schools), the programme cannot be fully carried out completely as there are still toilet design competitions for new toilets when new buildings are erected which will also facilitate the objective of getting children to have ownerships of their toilets.

Thus, the project is divided into different phases. Phase 1 is the planning process and Phase 2 is the completion of the ‘pilot’ toilet. During this phase, the budget was submitted to the principal for approval. Once approved, the children embarked on the task – to convert an existing 22 year-old toilet.

Parent volunteers were roped in for their expertise in making murals come ‘alive’ - the results of the morning glory murals on the walls facing the toilet. Stencils were also made by them and transformed onto the doors by the pupils. Thus, these flowers and leaves on toilet doors greeted each visitor even before they stepped into the toilet.

In an attempt to make visting the toilet a pleasant experience and live up to the name of Project HAPPY TOILET, a garden theme was conceived. Taking a leaf off garden landscaping, the pupils came up with 3-D displays of flowers and butterflies that are placed in each cubicle as well as on the adjoining walls of the toilets.

Pots of artificial flowers and plants were also hung from the ceiling. Throughout the whole conversion project, the pupils worked enthusiastically with minimal guidance from the teachers.

After three weeks of working on the project, the end result was something that satisfied the pupils as a project more than serving its objective. Visitors who commented on the beautiful toilets and their feedback that it is indeed very happy to visit the toilet also proved to the pupils, the worthiness of this project.

And of course, the gold award given by the RAS was indeed another bonus.

Mrs Amy Ong
Peixin Primary School