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A two-year School Hygiene Promotion Programme was
initiated in 2006 in twenty-one schools from urban,
peri urban and rural areas of Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The
programme supported by WaterAid India and implemented
by Centre for Environment Education focused on creating
enabling factors for school hygiene and sanitation.
School Selection
In the initial stage, an assessment of the existing water,
sanitation condition of the schools was done. About 40
schools were visited; the Principals were interviewed and
information collated. The schools were from the urban,
peri urban and rural areas of Raipur district. The filled
forms were analyzed and a profile of each school was
prepared.
Based on this information, twenty-one schools were
selected for the School Hygiene Promotion Programme.
The selection was done on the basis of the hardware
conditions, school strength, mix of primary and middle
schools, and the location of the schools.
Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) Study
To understand WatSan practices and hygiene behaviour of
students before designing any activities for them, a study
to assess students perceptions, aspirations, knowledge,
attitude and practices (behaviour) pertaining to water,
sanitation, health and hygiene issue was undertaken for
students of Standard I to VIII.
Of the 7000 students, 10 per cent of the students were
covered through the sample study. Groups of 7-10
students from each class from primary and middle
section were formed; a set of questions to assess these
aspects was prepared. The questions were framed to
understand student’s general understanding on personal
hygiene and sanitation, water storage and handling, food;
their practices regarding these aspects. Observations,
interaction with students helped in designing the content
for teacher training.
Textbook Analysis
The State Board textbooks of language, Science and Social
Science of Std I to VIII were analyzed to assess presence
of content on water and sanitation, the treatment and
depth, and teaching approaches. The analysis was shared
with teachers to obtain their views on the analysis done,
and their inputs on effective ways to enrich classroom
learning. The teachers gave suggestions on improving the
presentation of these concepts in the textbook as well as
methodology to transact the same in the classroom.
Teacher Training Workshop
Orientation of teachers to Water and Sanitation to
inculcate good hygiene behaviour among students was one
strategy to promote hygiene education. A two-day training
workshop was organized for selected teachers from these
schools. These teachers were then to become Swachata
Club in-charge for their respective schools and to guide
students to carry out club activities. Twenty-three teachers
participated in this workshop.
Various approaches like games, demonstration, audiovideo,
creative writing and art/craft were tried focusing
on key WatSan messages to bring in desired changes
among student behaviour as well as to create demand for
improvement, and maintenance of WatSan facilities in
the school. Each approach tried during the workshop was
concluded with a discussion on the teaching approach, for
the teachers to give their feedback and their understanding
about the utility and practicality of the approach tried. At
the workshop, the teachers found the games, audio-video,
folk songs and poem in Chhattisgarhi as an effective way of
communicating WatSan messages to students.
Stakeholders Meeting
One part of the project was actual improvement of the
WatSan facilities and constructing model units, with a
view to reach out to the community through students and
enhance the demand for WatSan facilities.
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A day-long meeting was organized in order to provide a
platform for stakeholders to share their understanding and
experiences about water and sanitation. The meeting was
attended by respective School Principals, Janbhagidari
Samiti Adhyaksh (PTA head), Sarpanch of the village,
Parshads (Corporator in case of Nagar Nigam schools),
officials from Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission (State Mission,
SSA) and PHED. The facilities for drinking water and
sanitation of these schools were presented and discussed.
A role play exercise was done to help each stakeholder
understand their roles and responsibilities in improving
facilities in the schools. The participants were divided
into groups of ‘Sarpanch’, ‘Principals’, ‘Parents’ and ‘Janbhagidari Samiti’. The exercise was effective; though
there were differences of viewpoints, but collectively all
agreed that it is a shared responsibility and each one has
a role to play.
Hygiene Classes and Formation of Swachata Clubs
To reinforce the message of health, hygiene and sanitation,
permission to conduct one-hour session in each class by
CEE was obtained from District Education Officer. A time
table was worked out in consultation with principal and
teacher-in-charge of Swachata Club for each school. The
main messages of the activities were related to safe water
handling, personal hygiene, food hygiene, safe disposal
of human and animal, solid waste and waste water, safe
treatment behavior in case of diarrhea and formation of
Swachata Clubs in these schools.
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Swachta Clubs: It was decided in the workshop that
students of Std. 4 and 5 be taken as club members. The
younger students could be involved in classroom activities
etc. Thus, it was decided to select 10 students from Std.
4th and 5th and 15 students from 6th, 7th and 8th as club
members and the clubs were formed. The selec-tion of
students was based on their activeness, interest as well
parents consent. The teachers-in-charge guided club
members for its overall functioning. The club has four sub
committees vis a vis their roles are as below:
- Water Committee looked after drinking water
facilities like cleanliness near hand pump, drum/tank,
ladles, glasses etc. and also to spread the messages
for cleanliness of talab (pond) and hand pump at
community places.
- Health Committee was responsible to look after
cleanliness during mid-day meal, that students wash
hands before eating and after using toilet, nails
are cut and overall personal hygiene of students is
maintained.
- Swachata Committee was responsible to look after
sanitation facility, the cleanliness of urinals, toilets,
water facility for hand-washing available near toilet/
urinals.
- Monitoring Committee was responsible to look after
overall cleanliness of school campus, classroom
cleanliness, etc.
It was easy to form the Swachata club in primary and
middle schools. But school that have high school and
higher secondary and the number of students is much
larger, it was difficult for the monitors from middle school
to manage their work as older students were
also users.
Training of Swachata Club Members
A training programme for members of these clubs was
organized in each school. The focus of the training
programme was hygiene practices to be followed under
various samitis of swachata club, how to involve other
students in the samiti work, rotation of members under various samitis to share the responsibilities with other
students. The training included:
- Introduction and ice-breaking activity of club members,
what is Swachata Club, the role of the club and the
tasks to be done
- Discussion of seven messages of hygiene and
sanitation
- Activities – Hand wash, F-chart {practice with turmeric
powder}, proper way of hand washing, game of rope & ladder for good and bad practices.
- Distribution of I cards
- How to check cases of diarrhea and ways of curing it
and precautions
- Water quality testing
- Fieldwork {Cleaning of school premises and check
up of personal hygiene} of club members with other
students
- Revision of role and responsibilities of club members
Activities conducted during hygiene classes
• Discussion on hygiene and sanitation messages through
participatory methods
• Discussion on roles and responsibilities (members along
with all students of the class)
• Using various demonstrations, creative art, films to
understand hygiene and sanitation messages
• Field work and cleaning activities
Balmela
In order to share experiences and learnings of students
and teachers, a one-day Balmela in all project schools
was conducted near the year end, with many activities,
as follows:
Games: Ropes and ladder focusing on health and sanitation
was played with the kids.The game is developed in a
way that it covers all the messages of hygiene practices.
Thisgame was one of the favorite of all the activities
conducted during the mela.
Best out of Waste: Dustbin painting is an innovative way
to inculcate message of ‘Best out of Waste’ and concept of
reusing was tried out in mela. Old used oil tin dabbas were
bought and painted with turpentine and red oxide paint to
prevent rust. These rust proof dabbas were painted green
by students during the mela of their respective schools.
Each school started to use these painted dustbins for each
of their classrooms.
Rangoli: The theme for Rangoli was Hamari Pathshala,
Swachcha Pathshala; Hamara Gaon, Swachcha Gaon
Painting: Themes for painting were Hamari Pathshala,
Swachha Pathshala; Hamara Paryavaran; Pani ka Rakh
Rakhav; and Vaiyaktik Swachchata
Slogan writing: Students wrote Health and Sanitation
related slogans which were later used during the rally
Voice of children: Students were asked to write down what
in their opinion forms ‘good health and sanitation facility
and practice’. Initially they thought it is exam since piece
of paper with their name and school name etc. was given
to them to write down. CEE Hygiene Educators cleared
their doubts. They voiced their opinion on the following
theme:
1. Hum Apne Aaspaas Swachtta Kaise Rakh Sakte hai
2. Jal Stroton Ko Saf Kaise Rakh saktein hain
3. Bimario Se Swayam Ko Kaise Bachayen
4. Shala Mai Peyjal Va Shauchalaya Ki Suvdha Kaisi Ho
5. Shauchalaya Ka Upyog Kyon Karana Chahiye
Health checkup: Health check up counter was set during
mela. Volunteers were identified from the Swachhta Club
members and were oriented to what are the aspects that
need to be checked during check-up activity. They were
given a format also to fill while checking.
Hand washing and nail cutting: Students whose hands
were not clean and nails not cut were assisted by volunteers
to wash their hands properly using soap and helped in
cutting their nails.
Achievements
Water: During the project period two new bore well hand
pumps were installed in two Government School. The
selection of schools was done based on drinking water
availability and the physical condition and location in the
school. Government school at Jora village was provided
with new bore well hand pump. This school was selected
as the school had no drinking water facility and students
have to go to a road side community hand-pump.
One new bore well hand-pump was installed at Bhatagaon
Government School. Though the school had a bore-well
hand-pump, this was near a nullah and therefore it was
not being used for drinking purpose.
Fundhar Government School had a bore-well without
hand-pump. A pipe connection was given instead of hand
pump to collect the water. This was operated through a
motor pump. This wasted lot of water during break when
motor was switched on and if no one collected water. The
school was given option to install a new hand-pump to this
bore-well, but they insisted to have water tank to collect
the water. Thus this school was given with a water tank
with taps. A separate connection from this tank to newly
constructed urinal was given so that there was water in
urinals also. All the water sources of the schools have been
tested, water quality was found to be potable/ drinkable.
None of the sources were found to be contaminated.
Sanitation:Due to lack of basic sanitation facility there
was a big hindrance in the proper and conducive learning
environment, the surrounding of the school was becoming
dirty and girls hesitated to come to the school. Thus,
prioritizing the sanitation facilities on various criteria like
availability, condition, location, separate sanitation blocks
for girls and boys were constructed in three (Manabasti,
Dharampura, Temri) Government Schools. Each sanitation
block was fitted with force-lift hand pump, ensuring water
supply facility without depending on electricity.
Separate urinals for girls and boys were constructed
in Fundhar School. This was the first experience for
CEE Chhattisgarh State Office to construct hardware in
schools. The School Sanitation Block constructed is not
just a sanitation facility but a model to demonstrate
participation of School authority and Gram Panchayat
in the construction process as well showcase a model
of regular supply of water to sanitation facility without
depending on electricity.
The unique feature of this model was that a force-lift has
been installed to the hand pump from which water supply
connection is given to sanitary block. Assuming that water
released on using hand pump is not entirely used and gets
wasted, this water could be diverted through a pipe to
the sanitary block and overhead tank is filled. With this
installation whenever the hand pump is used apart from
students drinking the water the wa-ter which gets wasted
is lifted to fill the overhead tank. Thus water is efficiently
used without any electricity.
This work brought various learning to CEE Chhattisgarh team
including coordinating with various stakeholders; building
trust among each other; following norms, procedures
laid internally as well as by funding agency; quality and
procurement of material; timing of construction.
The villagers had not heard about the force lift system
before. When the WaterAid trained mistri from Lalitpur,
Uttar Pradesh came and installed and demonstrated
its use, he shared his experience as well as showed an
efficient way of using water. The construction work not
only provided the school children with a toilet but it also
created awareness in the Panchayat and village community
about requirement of water-sanitation facility in the
school and finding low cost technology solutions. School
Education department has also shown its willingness to
install force lift hand pumps in each school.
The Future
Over two years of implementing ‘Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene Promotion in Schools’ programme, through
various interactions with teachers, education department
as well as PHED, it is felt to link the programme with
SSHE programme in the State. Considering the district as
a unit, a baseline survey of about 2000 schools of Raipur
district has been carried out to understand the water and
sanitation condition of these schools. The key strategy for
scaling up the programme is to demonstrate SSHE model
for Government System at Block and District units and
targeting all ‘actors/stakeholders’ with their respective
role.
For more information contact:
CEE Chhattisgarh State office
HIG-C/3, Shailendra Nagar
Raipur 492001, Chattisgarh
Ph: 0771 – 4051391; Fax: 0771 – 4048768
E-mail: ceechhattisgarh@ceeindia.org
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