Project Results

Following the implementation of the project, our group has come up with the following outcomes and challenges:

Outcomes:

1. All the toilets in the SK buildings have been fully provided with toilet paper. According to the dean of the school of social sciences, the soap will subsequently be provided to the SK building toilets probably next week. All these facilities have been supplied by the dean of the School of Social Sciences.
2. The soap has been provided to some of the toilets in DK building including the library's toilet following the proposal. 
3. The Dean has approved our project and is in support of its cause.
4. Many students who completed our questionnaires wanted these outcomes, as well as those many students who offered their signatures in support of our project. with so many students wanting these items in washrooms, it will be difficult to ignore.
5. USM has hundreds of international exchange students every semester. With this in mind, campus should ensure that everyones needs are met, and that all students are comfortable with the facilities on campus.

Challenges:


Some toilets in the campus still cannot be provided with toilet facilities following our proposal because:
1. According to the Development Department; the department in charge of maintaining SK and DK building toilets, the university does not include all the toilet facilities in the budget. The budget merely covers cleaning service. The budget should be increased to cover these items in the future, but right now it is unrealistic for our group to consider increasing the university's budget as a possible goal.
2. The Department also seriously emphasized that students had misused the facilities provided. For example, some students wasted a lot of toilet paper. They even took the paper from the paper containers all at once. Therefore, the Department has not provided the toilet paper until now. In order to reduce the wastage, cleaning staff should monitor the washrooms daily, ensure that these items are stocked, and they could use toilet paper dispensers that lock.
3. According to Malay, they do not prefer using toilet paper. Hence, not having toilet paper is not the major concern for them. But due to the fact that there are many other students on campus, including international students, these items should be provided so that everyone is content with the washroom facilities.
4. According to the Student Affairs and Development office, the toilets in USM are divided into four zones. Different zone are managed by different companies. These companies do not take providing these items in toilet facilities into much consideration as they perceive those facilities as not common in Malaysia, especially for Malay students. Therefore, it was very difficult for us to convince those companies to provide toilet facilities in their zone.


Future:


We believe that with the impact that we had made with this project, and the awareness that was spread amongst the students and staff at USM, that within the near future all washroom facilities on campus will be provided with these items. Changing the university's budget and convincing cleaning companies to place more emphasis on providing certain items might be beyond the scope of our project, as these outcomes may be difficult to achieve in the allotted time over the duration of a semester. Overall, we are pleased that our project has been brought to the attention of staff and the dean of the university, and that there will now be toilet paper and hand soaps in many of the washrooms on campus. We challenge a group from the next section of malaysian studies students next semester to continue on with our project, and help ensure that these items are provide in EVERY washroom on campus, and that they continue to be clean and tidy.


Note:


We would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete our questionnaires, sign our petition, and join our group blog. We would also like to thank the dean of social sciences for recognizing our project and supporting it.