Taminmin College’s bathroom time restrictions slammed with online petition

The school board of a college that restricted toilet time has revealed the issues that lead to the policy. Read the scathing reviews of the move and have your say.

A policy restricting the time students at a Darwin school can go to the bathroom has been slammed as “ridiculous”, “humiliating” and a breach of “basic human rights”.

Taminmin College in Humpty Doo imposed an “inappropriate use of toilets” policy last year, limiting bathroom time to recess, lunch and between class change-overs.

The school board has revealed the policy was implemented by the student leadership team in response to a number of concerns raised by other students.

“From the hundreds of students surveyed, over 78 per cent said they were not happy with the state of the toilets,” Taminmin College Board chairman Beverley Ratahi said.

“The issues identified included ‘lack of respect for privacy’, ‘toilets left dirty, messed up or vandalised’, ‘toilets closed down to be cleaned or repaired’, ‘crowds intimidating other students trying to use the toilets’, ‘vaping and illegal activities preventing kids from entering toilets’.

“Students stated ‘teachers should patrol toilets and suspend vapers’, ‘toilets should be locked between lessons’, ‘toilets should be safe and clean to use’, ‘teachers should control the use of toilets’, ‘toilets should be single cubicles with walls to ceiling and floor’ and ‘Year 12 and 11 should have their own toilets away from younger kids who mess them up’.”

However an online petition trying to get the rule overturned has been circulated on social media.

Started by Ivy Fuss, the change.org petition has garnered the support of more than 600 people.

She said she understood the restriction was brought in to curb vandalism and vaping in toilets.

Among those who have signed their support are students and parents of students who shared the change’s impact on them.

“I am having to dehydrate myself to guarantee that I won’t need to use the bathroom in class time and waste my valuable learning time — during class change-overs and breaks, the lines for the bathrooms will be flooded with kids, blocking the hallway for anyone walking past, and the people who open these toilets are not on time, therefore, only a few students have time to go before the toilets are locked once again,” Ms Fuss wrote.

“I’m signing because it is insane that I had to wait 20 minutes to put a pad on and ruin a pair of undies just because I had to wait for a key,” Chloe Tasher said.

“This is my previous school, my sister also now attends the school and this just sounds ridiculous, just interrupting learning and basic rights.” Tyler Colenso wrote.

Taminmin College has restricted the times students can go to the bathroom. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“My daughters attend Taminmin and are being denied their basic human rights of access to toilets in a timely manner and missing out on learning class time when waiting for such a long time in line to access a key to unlock a toilet,” Melissa Brunet said.

Ms Ratahi said the policy received positive feedback in term 4 of 2022, with students saying they now felt safe to use the toilets.

Another survey will be conducted in week 5, to assess whether sentiment has changed since October.

A spokeswoman for the NT Department of Education said the policy was brought in with the support of students and the school board.

“Due to inappropriate use of the toilets during class time, as well as to maximise teaching and learning by minimising classroom disruption, the toilets are locked during class time,” she said.

“Students can still access the bathrooms, by obtaining a key from school staff.”

Following the backlash from the move, the spokeswoman said a review into the policy would be conducted shortly.

“When the policy was introduced in 2022, the school sought feedback from the community through a survey,” she said.

“In line with the schools policy review process, a new survey will be distributed in the next few weeks and the findings evaluated.

“Any changes to this policy resulting from the responses will be conveyed to the school community.”