Building Awareness And Infrastructure For Sanitation
Kota of Rajasthan is the 25th largest district in India. The district located at the banks of river Chambal, is yet to achieve the tag of an Open Defecation Free district. Lack of awareness and proper infrastructure for sanitation has led many young students to fall sick forcing them to miss school.
In a bid to improve sanitation infrastructure in 1072 Govt. Schools comprising of 777 Primary and 295 Secondary Schools, DCM Shriram Ltd. under the aegis of DCM Foundation has initiated the “Shriram Swachagrah Project”.
Pursuant to the above, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for implementation of Kota School Sanitation Project (Shriram Swachagrah, Swachh Vidhyalay Yojana, Kota) was signed on 23rd May, 2018 by Mr. Gaurav Goyal, IAS, District Collector, Kota, Mr. Ramu Meena, District Education Officer (Primary), Ms. Anjilika Palat, District Education Officer (Secondary) and Mr. Vinoo Mehta, President & Business Head – Fertiliser and Cement, DCM Shriram Ltd.
The Project has also received approval from the State Project Director, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Jaipur, Ms. Anandi, IAS in the month of April, 2018.
In Kota, Lot of families opt for open defecation even if they have toilets at home. There have been cases where the people have applied for grant to build toilets and have backed off from building it after receiving the money from the government. The objectives of this project include achievement of functional toilets, regular use of school toilets, hand-wash before & after meals and using toilets. The objectives also include adoption of sanitation practices by village community in the nearby areas of Govt. Schools & discontinuing open defecation.
The scope of the Project includes improvement of sanitation infrastructure by construction of new toilets & renovation of existing ones in all the Govt. Schools of Kota District along with operation & maintenance of the infrastructure developed as part of the Project. The Foundation shall make additional efforts towards achievement of behaviour change of all stakeholders (students, parents, village community) in nearby areas where these schools are located and ensuring appropriate monitoring, evaluation/ impact assessment.
“ShriramSwachagrah” Project is unique and un-precedented as for the first time any organization is taking care not only of the sanitation infrastructure in Govt. Schools but also their operation and maintenance coupled with efforts towards bringing in behaviour changes among the entire village community,” said Mr. Vinoo Mehta, DCM Shriram Foundation. “As Gandhi ji initiated the public through a satyagrah we are doing it through a swachagrah for cleanliness, health and hygiene. Shriram Swachagrah will be a project for our “Swachh Vidyalaya Yojana,” he added.
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