A 4-year-old girl was taken to a hospital in Wales after she felt she could not use the bathroom for fear of violating her school’s toilet paper policy.
The toilet paper policy requires students only to use as much toilet paper as they need, and the school does not provide toilet paper dispensers within bathroom stalls. Instead, there is one dispenser in the bathroom’s public area, and students must take a limited amount with them into the bathroom stall.
“She was not clearing her bowels properly in school because of the toilet paper policy. It was a traumatic experience,” Fahmin Khanum, the mother of the child, told Wales Online on Thursday. “This caused her to end up in hospital 100%.”
Fahmin said the policy has also caused her daughter to soil herself before because of the anxiety she felt over potentially violating it.
“I spoke to the head teacher, and she told me it was so that children don’t block the toilets using too much toilet paper,” the mother said. “It’s a health and safety issue impacting on children’s welfare, and it’s awful for the children’s dignity.”
A school representative said that “We have reviewed our policy and will soon be installing dispensers in all our cubicles. We will be contacting parents shortly to let them know of the change.”
Bathroom controversies have affected schools in Wales in the past. Earlier this year, some students missed school because of “period shaming” and sexual harassment arising from mixed-sex bathrooms.
