Clean Schools project a boon for Tripura

This Diwali portends to bring light into the future of students in at least 100 Government-run schools in the district of Unakoti in Tripura.

These schools will get water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) on a war footing to improve their lot. To make this possible, three institutions have signed a tri-partite commitment.

It would be one of the first initiatives under the “Swachh Vidyalaya” or Clean Schools project after the launch of the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) mission launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2 with emphasis on ensuring clean water, sanitation and hand wash facilities in schools.

While the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) will extend financial assistance, under its corporate social responsibility, to create the required infrastructure, the District Administration of Unakoti and the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad will provide expertise in implementation.

Mrinal Kanti Nath, District Collector of Unakoti, Jaidev Banerjee, Zonal Manager (East), REC and V Srinivas Chary, Director, Urban Governance, Infrastructure, ASCI, signed the agreement in the presence of the Minister of Education Tapan Chakraborty and the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister K Rajeswara Rao.

According to the agreement, the programme will be implemented in two phases. During the first phase (6 months) identified strategies would be executed in 100 schools of Unakoti district. Almost 21,000 students would benefit from this intervention, Srinivas Chary told BusinessLine .

REC has committed to providing support to the district administration in scaling up the programme to the rest of the district covering 205 more schools as part of the second phase. This phase would also aim to support all 4,621 schools of the State, according to the agreement. The ASCI has been working on projects in Tripura and the favourable response of the officials ensured that the project was grounded there, he said.

Poor sanitation causes diarrhoea, a major cause of death in children under five years of age. Each day, approximately, 2,000 children die in India as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. Soil transmitted diseases, trachoma, scabies and acute respiratory infections are common in schools with unsanitary toilet facilities.

Recent studies show strong evidence that lack of proper sanitation facilities lead to malnutrition and stunted growth in children. India accounts for more than 3 out of every 10 stunted children in the world.

Access to safe WASH improves the learning abilities of children, health, and attendance, especially of girl child, with far-reaching consequence on the health of the community. Effective implementation of WASH in Schools (WinS) increases attendance and cognitive development; fosters social inclusion and individual self-respect by offering an alternative to stigma and marginalisation.

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