As part of its ongoing nationwide hygiene and sanitation campaign Dettol Banega Swachh India, Reckitt Benckiser (India) and the Noida District Administration have joined hands to launch Hygiene Curriculum in 70 public schools across the city of Noida.
The Curriculum was recently unveiled by Noida MLA Pankaj Singh and was represented by senior dignitaries from Noida District Administration, Hygiene Council of India, Aga Khan Foundation, RB and Jagran Pehel.
Speaking at the launch, Ravi Bhatnagar, Head External Affairs & Partnerships, Reckitt Benckiser (India) said, “The Dettol Banega Swachh India Campaign is committed to the Modi Government’s ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission and has supported the cause at various levels in the past few years since its inception.
“For us, the aim is to inculcate the good habits of maintaining hygiene and sanitation amongst children from an early age so that it gets imbibed and help them make the right choices about cleanliness,” he added.” Our association with Uttar Pradesh Government and Noida district administration is a step in the right direction.
“Going further, we plan to introduce many engagement and training programs for both teachers and school students. The program has already reached approx 5 million students across the country and RB along with its partners will continue to scale it to new heights in pursuit of a Clean India.”
Developed by RB India in partnership with Butterfly Fields and XSEED this curriculum has key elements that elaborates on important issues like maintaining optimum hygiene at home & school, points on maintaining personal hygiene and hygiene during illness. The curriculum has 15 sessions per year along with teacher work books and games developed under guidance of Dr Abdul Kalam.
It has three levels that focus on issues like the importance of maintaining proper hygiene with 45 sessions in total for three years. It is meant to cover primary secondary schools kids and is aimed at bringing about a positive change in the children’s outlook on matters of hygiene and sanitation and ensuring their right to proper hygiene.
In Noida alone, over 70 schools will be trained to conduct Behaviour Change Communication sessions for school children from Class I to V in line with the WASH delivery model.
The programme has already been successfully deployed in 5,000 schools across rural parts of 7 states reaching 25, 00,000 students and approx 50, 000 teachers who were trained at a ratio of 1 teacher per 50 students.
It has garnered positive impact already with overall increase in awareness about hand-washing, students following sanitation practice, knowledge about prevention of diarrhea, necessity to treat water before drinking and maintaining clean toilets in schools.