Presented at the 10th Asia-Pacific RCE Meeting, 3 November, 2017, New Delhi, India

1. Sanitation, Water, Cleanliness, Hygiene and Action in Rural Schools
– An Impact Study
RCE Bangalore

2. Background
• Need : 1/3 deaths among children in India is due to diarrhea and
respiratory infections caused due to unsafe drinking water, deplorable
sanitation and poor hygiene conditions
• Swacha Shale : Sanitation, Water, Cleanliness, Hygiene & Action in Schools
• Partners : UNICEF, SSA, RCE Bangalore, Zilla Panchayat, CEE
• Location : 43 Km from Bangalore
• Outreach : 55 govt. schools (2333 students & 124 teachers)
• Year : 2014-2015 and 2016-2017
• Objective : Reduce the risk of diarrhea and thereby increase school
attendance and enrolment by motivating and sustaining hygiene behavior
especially hand washing with soap at critical times among students

3. Key Interventions
• Hand wash : Child friendly hand wash designs and construction
• Water source : Ensuring water supply in schools
• Training : Capacity building for teachers, school authorities
• Camps : Hygiene camps and cleanliness drive for students
• Follow up : By RCE, CEE and Education Dept. officials
• Materials : Supply of posters on Health and Hygiene
• Monitoring : Regular monitoring of health of children

4. Impact Assessment - Need
• To recognise the changes caused by the Swacha Shale to uphold the need of
sanitation
• To understand how the project has been successful in improving the health
of students and also their attendance
• To observe if WASH interventions have bared long term impact on child’s
behaviour, teachers understanding
• To assess the involvement of students in spreading the awareness on
Sanitation to the community around them

5. Process
• Qualitative assessment
– Focus Group Discussions (FGD)
– Observations at the field
• Quantitative assessment
– through a detailed questionnaire covering various indicators such as Hand
Washing, Sanitation, Health, Hygiene, Attendance and the Environmental
impact of the Swacha Shale programme
• Enumerators interacted with:
– 800 students , 76 teachers 2 Gram Panchayat & 4 schools SDMC members
Quessionnaire
preparation
Data Entry
Literature
review Analysis ReportField visit

6. Outcome
• Hand washing facility usage and maintenance was 100% in 2015. After a
gap of year, the functionality of these facilities has come down to 89%.
• At the start of the project, more than 65 % schools did not safe drinking
water. Today 91% schools have procured water filters
• Toilets were made functional in all the schools. After a year, barring two
schools, toilet facilities are still maintained
• Only 15% of the toilets were cleaned every day after the execution of the
project, todays 40% of the schools get their toilets cleaned every day
• Waste management in school has improved as students don’t litter in
school premises and composting is done in 64% of the schools
• In 96% of the schools students continue to maintain hygiene practices -
bathing regularly, washing their hands when required, etc.
• Diarrhea cases among students before the project implementation was 2%
which has come down to less than 0.5%.
• Students absenteeism due to illness has reduced by 90%
• 100% increased participation by community

7. Advocacy
• State Govt is replicating the same in 7500 schools in the state
• Students have motivated in over 20% of the households to construct toilets
• Few components of this programme have been considered by the Govt of
India in deisgning national level programme called “Swach Bharat Swach
Vidyalaya
• All the district CEOs from Karnataka visited these schools
• Over 8 states officials and delegates from over 3 countries have visited the
schools
• Documentary shot by DD Chandana and screened

8. Case Studies
Head Master of GHPS Lakkenhalli School shares how she has observed the changes in
students,
“Before the programme, we teachers were insisting students to wash their hands before
the lunch, but now they make it a point to wash their hands before food and as well after
using toilet on their own. Students closely whether teachers practice the same or not”
Head Master of GLPS Hakkinal School mentions about health improvement in student in
their School.
“I observed that a student of 3rd standard named Tejaswini who is now transferred to
another school was continuously falling ill due to cough and cold, but after the programme
was implemented her health has shown a drastic improvement and also her attendance
also elevated”
Kruthika’ parents from Solur, strongly influenced by Swacha Shale programme were amazed
to see the behavior changes in their daughter’s regular activity and wanted to know its root
cause. Her explanation on importance of hand washing and usage of toilet and her
promptness in practicing the same convinced her parents to follow her daughter’s path.
Today parents are proud of her daughter and spread this message in the community.