School children at a hand wash camp in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Oct. 15: Middle School Tetri wore a different look today as the children had gathered with a different purpose — to celebrate the first International Handwashing Day.

The had special guests too to tell them why washing hands was so important.

The guests included members of social organisations, FXB, US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Unicef. Officials of water and sanitation and human resource development departments were also there.

The speakers told the students that infectious diseases were the most common causes of juvenile deaths in India and many other developing countries. These diseases are caused due to poor hygiene and sanitation practices.

“Lack of access to sanitation, poor hygiene and unsafe water claim the lives of an estimated 1.6 million children under the age of five year,” they said.

Bandhu Tirkey, state HRD minister, emphasised the importance of handwashing with soap at the school. He asked them to create awareness among the rural population by giving example of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which has been able to reach out to each family in the village with clear message on education.

He said, “we need to work with similar vigour to talk about hand washing with soap, specially before eating and after defecation. Each person should take responsibility of reaching reach out to at least five persons and talk about handwashing with soap”.

Aprana Sengupta, minister for drinking water and sanitation, highlighted the role of students as agents of change in this endeavour.

She addressed the women present at the function, especially members of self help groups (SHG), and requested them to help children imbibe the habit of cleaning hands with soap before eating and after defecation.

She said “people wash their hands with water but very few wash their hands with soap. Children present here will make this dream of Jharkhand into reality by taking to people in their homes, communities to continue with this practice.”

In her address, Sangita Jacob, Unicef officer, said;” 53% of the people in India wash hands after defecation, 38% wash hands before eating, and only 30% wash hands before preparing food”.

Similar campaigns were held at Lala lajpat Rai Senior secondary school, Pundag, TVS government school, Jagganathpur, Chotanagpur Public school, Bariatu and Bal Niketan, Bargain, Bariatu.