PwC India Foundation provides safe sanitation infrastructure for govt school students

PwC India Foundation (PwCIF), in collaboration with NGO Reaching Hand, handed over gender segregated toilets and handwash units to two schools in Bengaluru today, helping almost 500 students continue their schooling with dignity and confidence.

The project was initiated with the intent to reduce dropouts of girl students in schools due to lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) and menstrual health accessibility. As part of the intervention, PwC India foundation also conducted WaSH related trainings for the teachers, and distributed sanitation kits to the children.

Talking about the project’s impact, Jaivir Singh, Vice Chairman, PwC India Foundation said, “Our efforts to augment wash related infrastructure in government schools continues. As a responsible business, we are committed to the Swachh Bharat campaign through this and our many interventions across rural and urban India. As we look to the future, we look forward to engaging with Reaching Hand to run sensitisation exercises in the schools, using the passion and skills of our foundation volunteers.”

Post the handover of the toilet units, a student WaSH committee and Child Parliament in each school will be empowered to maintain the hygiene and sustenance of the toilets while teachers from the schools will be trained on the management of the facilities. The Foundation will also enable sessions on Menstrual Health Management and Behaviour Change Communication for the students to increase WaSH awareness levels in the school.

This is PwCIF’s second year of support to Reaching Hand. Two schools, namely, GGHPS Malur Taluk, and Gowthami High School in Kolar District in Karnataka were identified with poor sanitation facilities and limited access to proper toilets for students. A year-long project to upgrade the WaSH facilities and sensitise students and teachers on safe hygiene habits was rolled out by the Foundation in April 2018.