In what could be called as one of the biggest school sanitation projects, SACH constructed new toilets in over 250 government school s i n Punj ab and Meghalaya with support from HDFC Bank under Corporate Social Responsibility's (CSR) Parivartan initiative. This massive exercise is the real testimony to the success of Swachh Bharat Mission. The construction was started in 2015 and were handed over to schools authorities by December 2016.
The issues related to sanitation and hygiene in the schools has taken a pronounced tone against the backdrop of Swachh Bharat Mission launched by the new regime in 2014. It got major fillip following the renewed focus on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative under which corporates and the civil society came together to improve the poor and inadequate sanitation facilities in the schools which is responsible dropouts cases and the diseases among the students.
In Punjab, ten districts namely; Ludhiana, Amritsar, Moga, Ropar, Kapurthala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Fazilka, Gurdaspur and Taran Taran were covered under the School Sanitation Project (SSP).
Similarly, 167 sanitation facilities in 136 public schools were constructed and renovated under Department of Education and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) . The initiative covered 88 villages from five districts-Eeast Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi, East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills.
One year on, these toilets have given distinct recognition to all these schools In many schools the strength of students has increas edafter the construction of new toilets.
The initiative has not only improved the hygiene conditions with added strength of sanitation facilities but also got the message across with both teachers and the schools welcoming it as boon for the schools and girl students and female staff having a sigh of relief. Most of the schools admit that earlier the girls were shy of using the stinking and dirty sanitation units. Not only this, new toilets with all the modern facilities and gender-separated urinals prompted the students, especially the girls to attend the schools regularly.
The new toilets are children friendly. The height of urinals, wash basins and other fittings are in sync with the needs of the children. While constructing the toilets, all the technical specifications have been adhered to.
