The Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone global. Two international organisations — World Education Foundation and World Toilet Organisation — have joined hands with the Union Government to make the initiative a success and take the same to other parts of the world which face lack of sanitation, Aashish Shetty, India representative of WEF said. Shetty was in Chennai to invite officials from the Tamil Nadu Government and corporate heads to participate in the two-day World Toilet Summit to be held in New Delhi from January 19.
“The Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan has emerged as the India’s biggest mass movement. Our mission is to take the message of this initiative to schools all over the country,” said Shetty.
Anurag Saxena, CEO, WEF, said the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan has the potential to address the gender disparity prevalent in India. “A survey held by the WEF showed that the main reason behind girl dropouts is lack of toilet facilities in schools. This is the case not only in India but elsewhere in the world. Data on school dropouts across the globe show that thousands of girls are dropping out from schools when they hit puberty. This is because lack of toilets in schools. We are unconsciously building gender inequality from an early age,” Saxena said over telephone from New Delhi.
Shetty said the two-day conclave will see officials, representatives from local bodies, heads of corporates and technocrats with specialisation in sanitation and hygiene sharing their experiences, problems and innovative ideas to eliminate open defecation once and for ever from India.
For the first time in India, sanitation professionals and bureaucrats will get to know experience of their counterparts from other countries and evolving technologies in the sector. “This can play pivotal role in the area of sanitation and can help overcome the issue of open defecation rampant in India,” said Saxena.
The striking feature of the initiative to be introduced in the country is the attempt to address the behavioral change among the people so that they would be motivated to own and use toilet as a lifestyle choice.
Shetty met Dr Abdul Rehman, renowned endoscopic surgeon and an educationist from Australia, in Chennai. “You offer better toilets to students, with special focus on girl students because their requirements and needs are more important than that of others. Also ensure that those who are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining toilets and school premises neat and clean come either early morning or late evening to clean the toilets and class rooms. When the students come to the school, they should be welcomed by fresh, cozy classrooms and toilets,” Dr Rehman told Shetty.
Saxena said the effort will bring the global best practices in toilets to the country. “We also envisage the scope of public-private partnership for sanitation. For us the objective is to make the schools in the country a better place,” he said.