In India, the issues related to sanitation and hygiene in the schools has never taken such a pronounced tone as they have in the past few years. It got major fillip following the renewed focus on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which created an opportunity for corporates and the civil society to improve the poor and inadequate sanitation facilities in the schools. The construction of new modern sanitation units in 133 schools (four districts) districts) of Meghalaya and 120 schools in Punjab (ten districts) and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) project by Society for Action in Community Health (SACH) with support of HDFC Bank Ltd is the real testimony to the success of Swachh Bharat Mission. These districts are-Ludhiana, Amritsar, Moga, Ropar, Kapurthala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Taran Taran in Punjab and Ri-bhoi, East Khasi, West Khasi and Jantiya Hills in Meghalaya. The schools were handed over almost one year
back to the schools authorities with subsequent focus on safe sanitation hygiene practices thorough WASH activities.
One of the biggest challenges that most of the schools are facing is poor and dilapidated conditions of toilets which have adverse impact on the health, education, happiness and the attendance of the students. Apart from new construction, SACH also renovated toilets in 76 schools of Meghalaya. The added capacity in sanitation facilities has effectively curbed open defecation around these schools.
Septic tanks have been constructed and ventilators, fixtures and fittings installed as per anthropometric standards for children of respective age groups. We preferred septic tanks technologies over leach pitst o avoid contamination of shallow groundwater and check occasional water logging around the sanitation units. All the sanitation units are children friendly.
If you get the toilets right, you get the teaching right. It's exceptionally important that premises belonging to the schools maintain high levels of hygiene so that students, teachers and visitors feel totally comfortable using the toilets. Privacy and cleanliness are of paramount importance, which is why major consideration has been taken to ensure superior quality as well as stylish design.
Unhygienic sanitation facilities and absence of gender-separated latrines is a major cause for girls missing their classes. We constructed separate toilets for the boys and the girls. As a result, many schools witnessed significant increase in new enrollments and reduction in dropout cases among girls.
