China to ensure safe rural drinking water

The State Council of China has passed a five-year plan aimed to provide access to safe drinking water for 298 million rural residents from 2011-2015.

A total of 114,000 rural schools, and nearly 80 per cent of the rural population will have access to safe drinking water through centralized water supply facilities.

In China’s 11th Five-Year Plan period from 2006-2011, 105 billion yuan (US$ 16.6 billion) was spent to provide safe drinking water for 210 million rural inhabitants.

Source: Xinhua, China Daily, 21 Mar 2012

Bangladesh: BRAC video shows importance of school sanitation for girls

This new 9 minute video shows how BRAC is addressing high absenteeism rates among female students through a water, sanitation and hygiene programme in nearly 3,000 schools across rural Bangladesh. The programme includes menstrual hygiene facilties.

[Female students] have expressed that something so simple like as a sanitary latrine can change their entire educational experience.

The video was directed and edited by Sara Liza Baumann of Old Fan Films.

India, Kerala: “Green Army” school hygiene cartoons

Cartoons promoting promoting hygiene and cleanliness on e-toilets. Photo: The Hindu

An Indian e-toilet manufacturer has partnered with a local animation institute to create hygiene promotion cartoons for schools.

Eram Scientific Solutions with Toonz Academy has created the “Green Army” cartoon characters to make students aware of cleanliness and hygiene. The characters were selected based on a competition conducted among the students of the academy.

Crow, the sweeper of nature, keeps the surroundings clean by eating up the organic wastes. Earthworm, known as the plough of farmers, ploughs the soil and keeps it fertile, frog eats up the insects, mushroom absorbs all the organic waste dissolving them in soil and the cat buries its excreta. These soldiers will reach out to various schools along with two more characters Shuchi and Joy, to teach the students about the necessity of keeping the place tidy.

The Green Army premiered at the South Govt Girls Higher Secondary School (GGHSS) in Ernakulam, Kerala, as part of the  suchi@school (Sustainable Comprehensive Hygiene Initiative) project. The project aims to ensure adequate sanitation facilities in all government and government-aided schools in Ernakulam district.

The cartoon characters can be seen on the walls of school model Delight e-toilets supplied to the Ernakulam school by Eram Scientific Solutions.

Related news: India, Kerala: girls’ school in Ernakulam first to get e-toilet, Sanitation Updates, 27 Jul 2011

Related web sites:

• Eram Scientific Solutions
• Toonz Academy
• P. Rajeev - suchi@school project
• IRC - WASH in Schools

Source: Green army all set for action!, The Hindu, 08 Aug 2011

India, Uttarakhand: Rotary to provide clean drinking water facilities in Mussoorie schools

The Rotary Club will spend 5.5 million Rupees (US$ 121,000) to provide clean drinking water and proper sanitation in schools in Mussoorie, said Rotary District 3080 Governor Madhukar Malhotra. DG Malhotra was attending a programme on the Sanitation and Drinking Water Project for schools held at the Mussoorie Mahatma Yogeshwar Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandiron.

Related web sites:

• Rotary Mussoorie
• Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action group (WASRAG)
• IRC – WASH in Schools

Source: Garhwal Post, 04 Jun 2011

Philippines: an inspiring ‘toilet tale’

His childhood experience with ill-equipped schools in the provinces inspired businessman Napoleon Co to build toilets for poor Muslim and Christian kids in Mindanao.

Children visitors can now use the newly-completed restroom (inset) of the Kristiyano-Islam (KRIS) Peace Library instead of the bushes

Napoleon Co, owner of construction superstore chain Home Depot remembers the restrooms in his elementary school:

“Feces were splattered over the cracked tiles, and water barely spewed out of the broken faucets”.

Co admitted to holding the call of nature until he got home as a child— an unfortunate habit he found hard to break while studying in provincial schools in Cebu.

“Tending to withhold bowel movement for years as a child, I was 14 years old when I started seeing pools of blood whenever I used the toilet. Until I was about 35, the hemorrhage did not stop,” he laments.

He vowed never to let his children experience the same thing.

India, New Delhi: nearly 400 primary schools lack safe water

Some 385 primary schools run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have no water purifiers. They are supplied by water tankers of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). A recent study by the MCD health department showed that 18 per cent of tanker water supplied by the DJB is contaminated. Therefore the health department recommends that children bring water from home. Chief Minister and DJB chairperson Sheila Dikshit denied that the water board’s water was contaminated.

Out of the 1,361 schools that have been fixed with water purifiers, some 50 are not working, says MCD Education Committee chairman Mahendra Nagpal. Thirty-five MCD primary schools have no water supply at all.
The MCD runs 1,746 primary schools, which enrol more 900,000 children.

Related web sites:

• Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)
• Delhi Jal Board (DJB0)
• WASH in Schools

Source: Indian Express, 06 Apr 2011

Nepal: Govt. to construct girl-friendly toilets in 5500 schools

The government is all set to construct girl-friendly toilets in 5500 community schools throughout the country to enroll more girl students in the schools. The government has allocated Rs. 1.1 billion [US$ 15 million] for the purpose. According to Department of Education, the drop out rate of girl students has increased due to lack of girl-friendly toilet in schools.

The school enrollment rate of girl students is 87 percent in primary level and 84 percent in secondary level. However, the drop out rate is 7 percent in primary level and 11 percent in secondary level (class 10).

“Various researches and studies have shown that dearth of girl friendly toilet in school premises is one of the reasons for girl students’ dropping out of schools. Therefore, the government has given priority to toilet construction in schools,” the Department of Education states.

“Menstruating girl students often remain absent due to lack of separate toilets for them,” said Gita Kharel, Principal, Ratna Rajya School Baneshwor, adding, “The government is doing a good job of constructing girl-friendly toilets this year.” “There is need of such toilets in the districts outside the Kathmandu Valley,” she added.

Deputy Director and chief of Gender Equity Section at Department of Education Ganesh Prasad Poudel told that the government is allocating Rs. 200,000 [US$ 2,730) to each community school for constructing a toilet. “In the absence of separate toilets for girls and boys, many girl students do not attend school regularly. Therefore, the government has given priority to construction of girl-friendly toilet,” said Poudel, adding, “We will construct necessary infrastructures so that girl students can change their sanitary pads during their menstruation period and maintain personal hygiene.” There are 32,000 community schools throughout the country.

Related web site: WASH in Schools

Source: Kantipur / NGO Forum, 31 Jan 2011

Sri Lanka: Nestlé Lanka drinking water projects now serve 12,000 people

Inauguration of new drinking water fountain at Kuliyapitiya Central College, donated by Nestlé Lanka

Nestlé Lanka has opened its 11th water fountain at Kuliyapitiya Central College in the island’s North Western Province. The fountain provides drinking water to more than 2500 students. This brings the total number of children and adults that have benefited from the company’s drinking water projects to over 12,000.

Nestlé Lanka has built water facilities in schools, hospitals and places of worship. In parallel, the company conducts water education programmes in rural schools to promote water conservation. The water projects are part of Nestlé’s Creating Shared Value programme in Sri Lanka.

Related web sites:

• Nestlé – Safe drinking water – Sri Lanka
• Nestlé – Creating Shared Value

Source: Daily Mirror, 14 Dec 2010

India: Snakes and Ladders game teaches about challenges facing rural schools

Indian NGO CRY – Child Rights and You – has launched an online Snakes and Ladder game to raise awareness about the challenges faced by rural schools. The game includes messages about water and sanitation. A ‘ladder’ will advance you quickly towards your goal – a school that is close to home, or has clean drinking water; a ‘snake’ will hinder your progress – like no separate toilet for girls and boys, or no free government school in your village.

Play Snakes and Ladders online

Source: India Infoline, 25 Nov 2010

India, Tamil Nadu: schools get water purifiers for safe drinking water

A Government High School at Alagapuram Periya Pudur in Salem has been given a water purifier under the Education for All (SSA) programme. Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan / The Hindu

Thanks to a government scheme, many primary and high schools in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district now have installed water purifiers. For many village schools, however, the purifiers are of no use because they don’t have a water supply system.

 

The scheme is part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the government’s ‘Education for All’ Movement, that is being implemented in a majority of 1,721 primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools in the district. The allocation for primary schools is Rs. 5,000 [US$ 109], Rs. 12,000 [US$ 262] for middle and Rs. 7,000 [US$ 153] for both high and higher secondary schools were sanctioned. In addition each school gets Rs. 5,000 [US$ 109] per year for maintenance.

While many schools had been prompt in maintaining the water purifiers, a few schools had neither bought nor maintained them properly. A middle school in Kondalampatti had the purifier but did not have the provision for water supply to the school itself.

A school teacher said that the scheme, though laudable, could not be implemented totally in schools in villages since many of them did not have basic amenities such as water supply.

Source: The Hindu, 26 Nov 2010