The school children of Madhya Pradesh created a new world record on Global Handwashing Day, which was held earlier jointly by Argentina, Peru and Mexico.
In these 3 countries, 740870 people had created this record by simultaneous handwashing at different places on October 14, 2011. Madhya Pradesh is the only State, which has surpassed the joint record of 3 countries. Till this evening, authorised information about handwashing by 13,46,045 students of State’s 14,429 schools has been registered. The number is going to increase further since information from about 5,000 schools is yet to come.
In a major simultaneous handwashing programme on Wednesday, students of 19,735 schools in Madhya Pradesh created this world record by washing hands from 11 am to 12 noon. Earlier, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated state-level handwashing programme at Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Station Area of Bhopal in the morning. The programme was presided over by Panchayats and Rural Development Minister and in-charge of Bhopal district Gopal Bhargava. Women and Child Development Minister Maya Singh and Minister of State for School Education Deepak Joshi were also present on the occasion. Additional Chief Secretary Panchayats and Rural Development Aruna Sharma informed that handwashing with soap was successfully done in all 1.14 lakh government primary and middle schools and 80,000 anganwadis in the state. For verification of Guinness Book of World Records, handwashing was video-graphed and recorded on mobile phones in 19,735 schools specially selected for this purpose.
Sharma said that uncut videography done at these schools and names of students participating in the event will be presented to Guinness Book of World Records, which will officially announce creation of new world record of handwashing after verification. Notably, large-scale arrangements were made for the state-wide event aimed at educating sanitation to young generation and associating people with Swachhta Abhiyan. The event was organised jointly by School Education, Panchayats & Rural Development and urban as well as rural bodies. State Water & Sanitation Mission and Wash Project of MP Tast under DFID of the British Government, Water Aid and various other voluntary organisations extended cooperation in the mega event. Authorised information about world record created in Madhya Pradesh on Global Handwashing Day will also be available on website www.mpwash.org.