The toilets, which will replace existing old dilapidated school toilets, were designed by architects from the ministry’s School Design and Research Institute to improve sanitation in schools.

According to the ministry’s statistics, there are 11,500 kindergartens, 15,000 primary schools and 10,000 high schools across the country. However, 30 percent of theses schools either do not have their own toilets or the toilets they have are inadequate.

The School Design and Research Institute has been working on the school toilets project for the last two years, with funding coming from UNICEF.

In 2006, three separate latrine designs for kindergartens, primary schools and high schools were tried out in three communes in the central province of Thua Thien Hue.