In a bid to achieve cleaner schools and healthier students in Jharkhand, State School Education and literacy (SEl) department, in collaboration with UNICEF, initiated ‘Swachh Vidyalaya: Swasth Bachhe’ campaign on Tuesday.
The month-long initiative will endorse use and maintenance of health and sanitation facilities in state cradles and inculcate hygienic practices among students.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Raghubar Das said, “We have to check dropout rates in government schools of the state and providing functional toilets can help in this direction. District officials need to sit down with teachers in their areas and discuss measures for efficient implementation of this project. It is the responsibility of one and all to ensure that the status quo changes.”
“The management committee should hold weekly meetings for promoting cleanliness activities and then take the decided methods to village community. There should be at least thirty minutes’ motivational sessions in schools for promoting sanitary and hygienic habits. Form a system first, maintaining it will be easier that way,” Das stated.
“Mere numbers are not enough, how effective the initiative is in the field needs to be ascertained by physical monitoring. Complaints come to light despite spending enough for the projects, this should be checked. To make a clean Jharkhand, we need to first change the prevailing mindset about cleanliness, and students can play a crucial role in this,” said SEl Minister Neera Yadav.
“The State Government has succeeded in constructing separate toilets for boys and girls in schools, one for each, in the past seven months and more will be constructed in due time, but the major challenge is to promote the habit of using these toilets,” stated SEl Secretary Aradhna Patnaik.
She further added, “If the children are taught healthy habits, they can teach the same to their families, which in turn, educate the entire village about the benefits of hygiene and sanitation. We will be training the teachers, School Management Committees and Child Councils for achieving this purpose.”
“Starting such a project in schools will be very effective indeed. But also, Village Education Committees, ICDS and Anganwadis should be involved in it so that a child can learn the importance of cleanliness from early on and every step of his childhood,” suggested Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Amrendra Pratap Singh.
He also said, “As water is vital in scheme, a letter, jointly signed by me and SEl Secretary, was sent to state schools located in hilly and remote areas without water connections asking them to suggest practical solutions for the same. They can get the water from the nearest source via pipelines or we can provide bio-toilets and arrange for other similar means to get water.”