The work of one of the selected students

Ranchi, Jan. 11: Sometimes brush can narrate a better story than words.

A painting by Ravindra Sahu, a Class VIII student of Government Middle School, Garhwa has vividly describes when one should wash their hands: before eating, feeding children, before preparing or serving food with soap.

Another Class IX student Juhi Kumari of Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalaya, Palamau, has conveyed the message through her painting “saaf hath rakhe nirogi, saaf hath mein hain dum”.

Both Ravindra and Juhi are among the six from state-run schools whose paintings on the theme of hand washing were being used for the 2010 annual wall calendar by Unicef, Jharkhand.

According to the Unicef officials, the newly designed calendar will be distributed in 10,000 government middle and high schools of the state by January end to create awareness among children about general hygiene and sanitation.

In the state capital, a major event was held on October 27 to celebrate Global Handwashing Day by the Unicef, Jharkhand. During the daylong event, over 100 schoolchildren of government schools had participated in the painting competition on the above theme. From those paintings, the final six has been selected for the calendar.

Sugata Roy, communication officer of Unicef, Jharkhand, said if they received good response then extra calendars would be printed which will later be distributed in more schools.

“We had selected six paintings from 100 which communicated the key message on handwashing. All the students demonstrated freedom of expression through their paintings which was indeed praiseworthy,” Roy said.

Other students whose paintings have been selected for 2010 calendar are Suchi Smriti Bakla of Ursuline Girls’ Middle School, Lohardaga, Mangal Singh Besra of Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Gopal Kumar of Government Middle School, Chatra, and Ganpot Mandi Primary Middle School, West Singhbhum.

This hygiene and sanitation promotion in schools is one of the interventions supported by UNICEF called the Sanitation, Hygiene Education and Water Supply project.