A grab of The Telegraph report on January 31

Krishnagar, March 5: Taking a cue from Nadia, the government has asked all districts to ensure that primary school teachers clip students’ nails and wash their hands with soap before meals.

The district magistrate issued a circular to 2,700 primary schools last December, asking them to ensure that the students’ nails were not overgrown and hands were clean, after a study showed that over 24,000 children in Nadia suffer from diarrhoea, gastro-enteritis and other stomach ailments every year.

A report on the study and the district’s hygiene drive appeared in The Telegraph on January 31. Days later, the panchayat and rural development department sent a clipping of the item to all districts and instructions to follow the Nadia example.

Bankim Ghosh, the junior panchayat and rural development minister, said Nadia was not the only district where such an initiative was necessary. “Lakhs of children from Darjeeling to North 24-Parganas are getting such diseases because of a poor sense of hygiene at home. We’ve told all districts to take Nadia as a role model and ask primary teachers to clip nails and wash students’ hands with soap during the lunch break.”

District authorities and zilla parishad chiefs have been asked to ensure that teachers follow the directive.

To kick off the drive, the Nadia administration had sent 27,000 soap bars and 27,000 nail-clippers to the schools.

The panchayat and rural development department has asked the zilla parishads to provide money to buy soaps and nail-clippers. “We’ve asked all sabhadhipatis (parishad chiefs) to release funds. We are allocating more funds for the drive,” Ghosh added.

In Nadia, teachers opposed the move. Many felt it would be difficult to implement and lodged protests with the district primary school council.

Its chairman, Bibhash Biswas, said efforts are on to persuade the teachers to perform the new task “at any cost”.