“After the establishment of school sanitation complex in our madrassa I use to come regularly even in my menstrual days as I feel safe to come. Me and my friends used to be absent in the first three or four days in madrassa during menstruating periods. Which is now reduced as we comfortably come and use sanitation facilities in our madrassa premises as it has disposal system for sanitary napkins”, says Ishrat Jahan Amy (16) - a student of Fatematuz Jahra (R.) Girls Dakhil Madrassa in Ukhiya, Coxs Bazar. Ishrat is studying here since class three and now is in class ten. She added, “In our madrassa we use WASH facilities systematically such as using separate shoes for toilet, clean our hands before drinking water and after using toilet. Here we have written instructions in wall about toilet use and hygiene habits with a big mirror inside to get properly dressed after using toilet.” Ishrat also added, “As part of extra curriculum activity teachers are teaching us hygiene education in the class as advise. We also received training on hand wash, maintaining good practices and toilet cleanliness, and small hand wash campaigns for primary grades”. Access to WASH facilities at home is simply not enough to achieve complete behavioral change. The availability of these facilities at schools for both students and teachers is of critical importance, especially for girls at menstruating age. Toilet facilities in Fatematuz Jahra (R.) Girls Dakhil Madrassa were worst before this new set-up. As part of a new hygiene promotion initiative under an UNICEF emergency project for camp and host communities learning facilities development which is implemented by WaterAid Bangladesh this WASH facilities started from March 2019. Before that a thorough assessment of 22 schools and madrassa’s in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar WaterAid Bangladesh have selected two high schools and two madrassas for piloting under UNICEF supported emergency project. After physical establishment of the facility they also provided WASH training to students and school authorities. According to Madrassa Superintend Mohammad Osman (55) radical mental change occurred in life of their madrassa students. Especially, behavior change of their students are really remarkable in terms of hygiene practices. He says, “Access to safe water and provision of proper sanitation in schools are very important. Besides, schools are an excellent platform for hygiene education and the learning of overall proper hygiene practices, such as hand washing, drinking safe water, and using sanitary latrines. Before the launch of WASH facilities our toilet system was poor here. And naturally we have experienced students attendance was not as much of today. But currently it has been raised noticeably.” “One thing I admire most after establishment of the ‘Sanitation Facilities Complex’ is considering disable students and making accessible toilet for disable students”, says Kamrunnessa Tania (16), a student of class nine who is also studying here from class three. She added, “We, students of this madrassa have benefited most by this initiative. Because we were deprive of proper sanitation in the madrassa since long as it is in a rural area. Most importantly, this is a secondary level madrassa, since most girls reach their menstruating age. We use to stay at home during this time. But situation is changed now Fatematuz Jahra (R.) Girls Dakhil Madrassa was established in January 2001 with eight school drop-outs and currently have 517 students. Mohammad Osman, the Superintend along with few other villagers have started this initiative visiting door to door to collect students for it. Water Aid is a leading independent organization that enables the world's poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. Water Aid has been in Bangladesh since 1986, working with 21 local partners to improve access to water supply and sanitation services for poor communities.