27 April 2010
New Delhi, India
It is aimed at promoting safe sanitation practices among the students
India is planning to set up a health and wellness club in all the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools across the country to promote safe sanitation practice, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said.
"Health and wellness club will be set up in all schools for better sanitation. Let’s promise for zero tolerance against poor sanitation," Sibal said after launching the National School Sanitation Initiative, reports IANS.
He said only nine per cent of school students wash their hands before eating and these clubs will promote issues like these among students. "They are the future and their good health will help a build a better tomorrow."
The initiative is a collaboration project between the HRD Ministry and the Urban Development Ministry. It is estimated that 17 per cent of the urban population in India currently has no access to any sanitation facilities, while 50-80 per cent of the wastewater is disposed untreated.
School Education Secretary Anshu Vaish said at least 45 per cent of Indian schools do not have separate toilets for girls. "This is impacting girl students’ admission and we have a long way to go in improving this situation."
Initially the health and wellness club will come up in CBSE schools as it is the initiative of the Board, Vaish said.
"We will inform all the state boards and if they want all the materials can be translated to desired regional languages."
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.
