Continuing its efforts to create awareness against ‘vector borne diseases’, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has advised private schools to educate their children against issues like dengue and pollution. The Chief Minister also said that he will interact with children on burning issues via video conference.
"Under the '10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute' campaign against dengue, the Delhi Government has also prepared a kit for schoolchildren, which will be made available to children through schools," Kejriwal said while addressing principals and vice principals of Delhi's private and Government-aided schools at Thyagaraja Stadium.
The Delhi government will also provide masks to children through schools as part of its program to tackle pollution, he added.
Talking about improvement introduced by the AAP government in education sector, he said in last five years, the government has overcome this imbalance between private and government schools. "We have provided many facilities in our schools. The results have improved. Today, we can say that poor, rich, middle class, lower middle class, whether studying in government school or private school, are getting almost the same education in Delhi," he said.
The Chief Minister said that there is no period of dengue and Chikungunya. "As citizens of Delhi, we have to take all the steps to tackle the outbreak of vector borne diseases," he added.
Kejriwal also encouraged children to join the campaign -'10 hapte 10 Baje 10 Minute'. "In 2015, there were 15,000 cases of dengue in Delhi. In the last three-four years, a lot of efforts have been made and it resulted in the decrease of dengue and chikungunya cases," he said, adding that considering report of experts, the government designed the '10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute' campaign to control the menace of vector borne diseases.
Addressing the gathering, he further said that mosquito eggs take 7 to 10 days to grow. "We have to check our house. It does not take more than 10 minutes to check. This mosquito does not fly more than 200 meters. This means if you are caught by dengue, then that mosquito has either originated in your home or neighbor's house or breed in nearby areas," he said.
At least 304 cases of malaria have been reported last week of September. According to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates the data on vector-borne diseases in the city, the number of dengue cases reported till September 21 stands at 217 with 46 fresh cases reported last week. Meanwhile, mosquito-breeding has been reported in at least 130200 households and 106602 legal notices have been issued this year, according to a municipal report released on Monday.