Calcutta, Dec. 4: Hygiene, which has no place in the state’s primary school curricula now, will finally make an entry.

Although late, the government has realised that lessons in hygiene and development of cleanly habits are as important for children as academic activities. In rural areas, the new lessons would probably be more important than anything else they are taught.

The children will be told about the importance of washing hands before meals, brushing teeth in the morning, keeping food covered and using clean utensils.

“We shall also give the students some basic information such as the importance of having a separate enclosure both in their school compound and at home for use as toilets,” said Sulapani Bhattacharya, the president of the board of primary education. “We shall teach them why it is important to keep the toilets clean.”

A central team, which was in the state last month, had pointed out that toilet facilities in a large number of primary schools in the rural areas were very poor.

“There is no point in setting up toilets if there are no users,” said an education department official. Teachers will thus have to explain to the students how they are polluting their locality by not using toilets in school or at home.

To ensure proper implementation of the awareness drive, the board has set up a monitoring cell that will oversee the progress of a Unicef-aided health programme introduced in the 60,000-odd primary institutions.