1. Ganglakhema Primary School
Block: Khoma
District: Lhuentse
Country: Bhutan

2. Brief History of the school
Establishment: 2002
It is under Lhuentse district ( North East part of Bhutan)
It is one of the remotest schools in the country
It is about 2300m above sea level
It has 5.854 acres of land
It is a day school
It has six teachers and 80 students
80% of children’s parents are illiterate.
Almost all of them are livestock farmers

3. Our story of change
Hygiene for Head, Heart and Hand

4. Feel
Negligence of children’s hygiene by their
parents

5. Main problems due to Negligence of children’s hygiene by their parents are:
Itching and rashes on the bodies
Fungal infection on heads and wounds on the legs
Stinking hair and bodies in the class
Lots of lice and its nit on their heads
 Stinks from mouths and ears
Falling sick often and missing classes.
Muddy school uniform and shoes.
Having meal with long nails and dirty hands.
Lacking concentration while teaching in the class

6. Imagination
Therefore, we imagined to:-
1. Adopt Classes PP-II students by the students of classes V and VI.
2. Trim hair with hair clippers
3. Wash heads, legs and hands every morning in the school.
4. Practice hand washing techniques twice a week
5. Use toilet papers
6. Keep school uniform and shoes in shoe racks and cupboards provided
by the school
7. Provide tooth brush, tooth paste and nail clippers by the school
8. Observe bathing day on every Thursday.
9.Apply mediker, a medicine to remove lies and its nit
10.Wash hands before meals and after toilet using hanging soaps
11. Mirror project to put on school uniform and to comb hair

7. Financial support
• The school received Nu. 5000/- for world water
day celebration on22nd March, 2013. The school
decided to use this money to improve hygiene of
the students. We purchased tooth brushes, tooth
pastes, soaps, toilet papers, hair oil, combs and
two big dressing mirrors.

8. DO
1.Adopting PP-II students by classes V and VI students.
As classes PP- II students are small, they cannot keep themselves neat and clean. Therefore,
classes V and VI students decided to adopt each child as their brother and sister. Thereafter,
they started giving intensive care and improved physical hygiene of all small children.

9. 2.Trimming hair with hair clippers
All the boys decided to trim their hair short with the
help of hair clippers four times a year to avoid fungal
infection and keep heads free from lice and nit.

10. 3.Washing heads, legs and hands every morning in the school
We walk uphill through the forests and muddy footpaths for one
and half hours to the school. As we reach school, we sweat, stink
and become muddy. So we wash our heads, legs and hands every
morning before we put on our uniform.

11. 4. Practicing hand washing techniques twice a week
Our Principal demonstrates hand washing techniques twice a
week. There are twelve steps to follow while washing hands.
We wash our hands by following all the steps as and when we
wash our hands with soaps.

12. 5. Providing nail clippers and tooth brush to classes PP-VI
All most all of us did not have tooth brush & nail clippers. Our school arranged
us with brush ,tooth paste & nail clippers in the classes. We learnt to brush our
teeth & keep nails short. We brush our teeth every morning in the school to
keep our mouths clean.

13. 6. Using toilet papers and soaps
In the past we used twigs and leaves in the toilets. Now
we use toilet papers and as a result our toilets are not
blocked. We also wash our hands with soap and water
after toilet.

14. 7. Keeping school uniform in the school itself.
We keep our school uniform in the classrooms inside the
cupboards provided by the school. Our uniform remains
clean through out the week. We learnt to fold our clothes
and uniform properly. Every Saturday we take our
uniform back home and wash it .

15. 8. Make shoe racks & attach in the corner of the classrooms.
We brought planks and small beams to make shoe rakes. Our
school caretaker & class teachers helped us to make shoe rakes.
We keep our shoes and slippers in the rakes neatly in the corners
of the classroom.

16. 9. Observe bathing day on every Thursday.
We bath every Thursday after lunch. We bath our adopted brothers and
sisters, cut & clean their nails & ears. Our teachers also guide and help us.

17. 10. Applying mediker, a medicine to remove lice and its nit.
We apply mediker on our hair four times a year to remove lice
and nit. After applying this medicine, we massage it thoroughly
and keep covered by a piece of cloth for 3 hours. Then we comb
our hair and wash it with the help of soap thoroughly.

18. 11. Washing hands before meals and after toilet by using hanging
soaps
Washing soaps are hung with the help of new half ankle
socks. We find it comfortable to use when we wash our
hands, legs and face. It is quite economic and last for a
long time.

19. 12. Mirror project.
Our school has arranged us two dressing mirrors
for both boys and girls on the veranda of the
school building. We use this for combing our hair
and to put on our school uniform every morning.

20. Benefits
1. We learnt to give special care to our younger brothers and sisters.
2. Drastic reduction of fungal infection on the body and heads.
3. Stinking from our heads and bodies reduced.
4. Hands are neat and clean.
5. Toilets are clean &did not block as we stopped using leaves and twigs.
6. School uniform and shoes are clean and tidy throughout school hours.
7. Our teeth and bodies are clean.
8. Our hair became lice and nit free
9. We have learnt to put on our uniform smartly by looking at the
mirrors.
10. We come to school in time.
11. We don’t fall sick frequently.
12. Our attendance is regular in the class.
13. Parents are content and aware of our health & hygiene.
14. Students are looking smart and attentive.

21. Sustainability of this program
1.Parents decided to contribute Nu. 30/- each yearly to
purchase soaps, hair oil and tissue papers.
2.The school also started organic farming and poultry to
generate fund to support this program.

22. Challenges
1. Constant monitoring is required as students
are small and forget quickly.
2. Being remote, quite challenging to arrange
the resources.
3. Time constraint.
4. Depends upon the type of leader ( Principal)
to keep this program sustainable in the
future.

23. Share
After having started this program, we found that our
hygiene has improved a lot. Therefore, we would like
to share this idea with the schools that are located in
the remote pockets of the country.
So far we have shared with two schools. Our
Principal has decided to present the same in the
coming District Education Conference to all
principals and District Education Officers.
We also like to make movie clips and share to other
suitable schools.

24. • These activities are handy,doable and can bring lots
of positive impact on ourselves.
• Let us do it with our Head, heart and hand to keep
ourselves mentally and physically neat and tidy.

25. • Thank you ELC for making us
ambassadors of positive change in our
own lives and to others through DFC.