The Unicef team at a government primary school at Tiring in Potka block on Tuesday. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, April 20: The little dutiful “ministers” in our government schools have found admirers in some foreign guests.

On a visit to government schools here under Unicef’s International Learning Exchange (ILE), the six-member team from Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Bangladesh was immensely impressed by the concept of child cabinet. Under this programme, the students don the role of the President, Prime Minister and other ministers to look after the schools with special focus on cleanliness.

Conceptualised by Unicef and started in 2006, the concept has been successfully implemented across the state.

The third ILE team has visited eight primary and middle schools to study the water and sanitation programme implemented by Unicef. The team laid more emphasis on community and school water and sanitation programmes undertaken under the aegis of child cabinet.

“We will like to implement this concept in our countries too. It is a simple way of understanding one’s responsibility at home and school. A dual purpose is solved in this way,” said Eko Atu, the director-general of Rural Development Agency in Nigeria.

Patricia Buah, a work specialist from the ministry of water resources, Ghana, said: “We were amazed to see how the students kept their toilets clean with limited water. They have also started rainwater harvesting, kitchen gardens and installed force-and-lift pumps at the schools.”

Recently, these students decided to educate the people of their villages about hygiene. They will make them aware about the need to have bathrooms, to clean hands properly and wash vegetables before cutting. Each child has been allotted 10 families.

“We try to apply what we have been taught in schools at our homes too. We also tell our neighbours to do the same. We meet once a month to discuss our future course of action,” said Abhishek Palit, a Class VIII student, who is the health minister of Uchchakramit Madhya Vidyalaya, Naga.

“Jharkhand has set an example as far as water convergence with other programmes is concerned. The ILE aims at spreading awareness about these practices. It also gives us an idea about what other countries are doing,” said Prakash Gurnani, chief of Unicef, Jharkhand.