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A three-day State Level Workshop on ‘School Toilet Maintenance’ was held at Punnami Resorts, Bhavanipuram, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh from 23rd till 25th of March, 2021.
The workshop was inaugurated by Sri Adimulam Suresh, Hon’ble Minister for Education, Andhra Pradesh on 23 March 2021. Sri B. Rajasekhar, IAS, Principal Secretary, School Education; Sri B. M. Diwan Mydeen, IFS, Director, Mid-Day Meal and School Sanitation; Sri A. Murali, IAS (Retd.) Advisor, Naadu-Nedu, AP state Government and Sri Ajay Kumar, Vice-Chairman, International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH) participated in the inaugural meeting. There were around 160 participants: DEO, MEO, Cluster Coordinator, Principals, Headmasters, Teachers and Ayahs from 13 Districts were present and actively participated in the workshop.
The primary objective of the workshop was to provide advice and guidance to impart training and capacity building of the Headmasters, Community Resource Persons, Member Parents’ Committees, College Development Committees, Toilet Maintenance Committees, Ayahs (Female Sanitary Workers), Teachers and other stakeholders by experienced professionals in the field of sanitation, especially, maintenance of the toilets.
The Minister of Education in his inaugural speech addressed the participants. He said, “We need to change the existing system. Bring the change in the mindsets of all the stakeholders regarding the prestigious ‘Clean Maintenance of Toilets’ programme to be introduced in all the state government schools across the state in a phased manner in Naadu- Nedu Schools across Andhra Pradesh. Capacity building of all the stakeholders, who are present here today, as Master Trainers, would be held for three days. Our government is giving importance to education. Ammavodi- ‘Lap of Mother’ is a prestigious project of the state. In this scheme, each child belonging to below poverty line gets an opportunity to study in educational institutions irrespective of their background: caste, creed, religion and region. Under this scheme, every mother gets an amount of INR 15,000 towards educating children in government aided and semi aided schools and colleges. A total of 44 lakh mothers in AP would get 6,003 crores. 1,000 INR each pooled back from mothers who received 15,000 INR as Ammavodi, to the government as part of providing clean toilets to children studying in the schools of their wards. School Toilets get running water facilities and an Ayaha to clean the toilets. Mothers agreed to this and a total INR 447 crore allocated for ‘Toilet Maintenance Fund’. This fund is the backbone in creating Equity, Equality, Accessibility and Gender Parity in schools. Earlier, especially girls were deprived of their basic right- clean toilets. Those were the days, girls used to drink less water, were fearful to use toilets and were absent from school. Sometimes, they stopped studying-once they entered into puberty and menstruating. After the introduction of Ammavodi and Naadu Nedu schemes , education gets top priority in the list which checks gender disparity in Educational Institutions.”
Minister of Education, Andhra Pradesh further reiterated on how they would reach each and every government educational institution in the state in a phased manner. He said, “In phase I- INR 15,715 schools were covered and 3,700 crore spent for construction of toilets, compound walls, and floors and electrification. In phase II- A total INR 4 ,000 crores would be spent by November, 2021. Phase III- INR 11,000 crore earmarked to spend towards ICSC, Junior, Degree, DIET, and Polytechnic Educational Institutions would be covered by June 2022. Sanitary workers/Ayahs would be hired for toilet maintenance- TMF. People who left/kept toilets unhygienic and dirty would be punished. Now, AP Government is conducting ‘ToT on State Level Workshop on School Toilet Maintenance’ . We are giving top priority to our School Toilets. Master Trainers, trained here, will be going to train teachers and other stakeholders in their respective districts and mandals. This is going to benefit 60,00,000 children. This model would be going to be replicated across India.
The Principal Secretary, School Education Department, B. Rajasekhar said organizing a training programme on toilet maintenance fund was a novel experiment. He said this kind of a State-level meeting involving the top officials of the department, with focus on construction of toilets, was a very thoughtful move. In the past, most households in slum habitations did not include toilets and people did not feel their necessity in schools also. But the Chief Minister recognised the need for proper toilets for children who spend a large part of the day in schools, he said. He said the reforms introduced in schools had started showing positive results and cited the overwhelming admissions in government schools this year.”
Sri B. M. Diwan Mydeen, IFS, Director, Mid-Day Meal and School Sanitation welcomed the dignitaries on dais and workshop participants. He said, “Toilets are to be cleaned in a scientific way and it is very essential.”
Sri A.Murali, IAS (Retd), Advisor, AP Government on Naadu-Nedu, said, “AP Government has created a history by starting the Naadu- Nedu Scheme to revive and rebuild the government educational institutions across Andhra Pradesh. Many people used to message me saying that we are constructing new schools and toilets. But what about their maintenance? Our mindset, attitude, behaviour and beliefs must change towards toilets. Now, we see seven graduates coming as Ayahas. We all must become the ‘change agents’.”
Murali mentioned that one should know all about different types of tools and chemicals/natural cleaners to be used in the toilet cleaning process. He shared his experience of spending three hours with Sanitary Workers in a mall at Hyderabad and observing how to clean. This gave him lots of insights. He also suggested starting a WhatsApp group at state level. Resources must be utilized optimum and all the stakeholders take responsibility in clean toilets.
Sri Ajay Kumar, Vice President, IAESPH , quoted Mahatma Gandhi about Sanitation and Cleanliness of Toilets. “I learnt 35 years ago that a lavatory must be as clean as a drawing-room”. Everyone must be his own scavenger. Gandhiji’s advice to students was ‘If you become your own scavengers, you will make your surroundings clean’. He emphasized on clean toilets and we are entering into MoU with AP government on Toilet Cleanliness. The Academy is providing capacity building to the ‘Master Trainers’, who are in-turn going to facilitate training programmes in their respective regions to promote and achieve the clean toilets to educational institutions. Government incepted a TOILET MAINTAINANCE FUND (TMF) to establish clean toilets to the stakeholders of the educational institutions across Andhra Pradesh.”
He explained about the training design. “Headmasters, Community Resource Persons, Parents’ Committees, College Development Committees, Toilet Maintenance Committees, Ayahs (Sanitary Service Providers), Teachers and other stakeholders are trained by our experienced professionals in the field of sanitation, especially, maintenance of the toilets. In the three-day training workshop, we are going to apply different training methodologies like lecture, participatory methods and activities including school visits for practical demonstration.”
The inaugural programme was concluded with the vote of thanks by Sri Subba Reddy, Additional Director, Mid Meal and School Sanitation.
After the inaugural meet, the Three-Day Training Workshop was held at Dharani Hall and Bhavani Hall simultaneously. Almost 170 stakeholders participated in the training. The Master Trainers were from International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH), an expert organization dealing in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH and Health and Capacity building with vast experience in the field of sanitation, especially, maintenance of the toilets.
First day’s first technical session:
This session was held with the support of audio visuals. In a 45 seconds video of players passing the ball, participants were questioned that how many times the ball was passed by the players wearing white dress. All the participants answered in different numbers-answers ranging from 5 to 21times. The resource person explored that why this happened? All the participants were curious and enthusiastically participated in the session. It was a good start to the training. Later, participants were divided into two groups. The participants representing four districts of Rayalaseema: Kadapa, Kurnool, Anathapur and Chittoor were sent to Bhavani Hall. The other teams of 9 districts continued at Dharani Hall on the first day after lunch.
The workshop started with the topic ‘Basic Principle of Sanitation and Cleaning’. Key issues discussed were-
Later, the participants were asked to identify the infrastructural facilities available in the schools using the Baseline Data forms.
All the participants were requested to fill the baseline data of infrastructure availability within the school. All the participants actively participated in the process identifying the data within their school.
After the baseline data, participants were randomly divided into five groups. The groups discussed the following issues.
Group-1 :–
Group -2 -Infrastructure
Group-3- Problem creators
This group focused on how the schools are misused by communities and how they create issues to infrastructure like compound walls, gates, sinks, and pipes. They throw all kinds of waste materials in toilets and make them dirty. They damage wash basins.
Group-4- Issues
Group-5- Solutions
With this Baseline data in hand, the participants were oriented about ‘How to Achieve Good Sanitation Practices in the School’. The Resource persons and the participants have exchanged ideas about
Later, in the large group, toilet maintenance tools, equipment and chemicals were displayed and the representatives explained about how they work. The usage of cleaning tools and implements, chemicals, understanding of safety of the chemicals – pH, dilution factor etc, chemical reaction during the procedure, handling and storage of equipment, handling of inventory and its budget requirements were explained to the participants.
On the first day of the workshop, introductory talks of the guests have boosted interest and the icebreaker exercises seeded curiousness among the participants. They understood individual level observational and perceptual differences among themselves. They understood the concept of training the brain for building new attitudes and behaviours.
Individuals from every district were enthusiastic and expressed their clear understanding of schools’ present status of toilet and sanitary practices, in which areas they are looking forward to improving etc. After the end of the first day’s session, many participants mentioned that they had learned many things which they never thought are part of school development.
Second day:
Morning till lunch hour, held in Dharani Hall for all the participants from 13 districts. The participants were explained about the ‘Types of Wastes and Scientific way of Waste Management’ using PowerPoint Presentation. Impact of wastes on socio-economic-environmental factors, impact on health, effect on social structure, environmental impact & assessment were explained and later he introduced the concept of Waste Management. He oriented the participants about the historic trends and past practices; trends in waste accumulation. Later he explained about types of wastes and the sources of wastes. He talked about the concept of solid wastes by giving examples of Municipal Solid Wastes, Liquid wastes, Infectious and Bio-Medical wastes, Industrial wastes and Agricultural wastes. Basic information related to Radioactive wastes and E-wastes was also given.
Technical Session on Waste Management
Ayahas (Female sanitation workers) were a bit reluctant to open up and express their views in the larger group. So, Ayahs were divided into two teams and they were given time to discuss how to maintain toilets in schools. After brainstorming, they presented their ideas and suggestions to implement the program effectively.
Through this program of conducting Training of all the Headmasters, Community Resource Persons, Teachers, Representative of Parents’ Committee and Ayahs in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the standard of sanitation is expected to be improved and every child in the state will be able to access clean toilets that are maintained with good hygiene and sanitation procedures. To achieve this, behavioral change is a must in all the stakeholders. The issues related to toilet maintenance can be communicated effectively using different creative forms. To showcase this, stories related to waste management and efficient resource uses were narrated by the Resource Persons. Later the resource team invited the participants to come forward voluntarily to form creative teams. Twenty teachers volunteered to be part of the creative team and presented two plays on the spot after 20 minutes preparation. All of them actively participated on stage and viewers too enjoyed the play on optimum utilization of resources and reuse & recycle waste/resources available.
Remaining teachers participated in the waste segregation game. A game was conducted to make the participants understand the broad classification of wastes. Each participant was given waste printed cards, written cards and blank cards. The participants segregated the wastes into biodegradable wastes, non-biodegradable wastes, non-hazardous wastes, hazardous wastes, electronic wastes, hospital wastes etc, using the cards given to them. Teachers who received blank cards identified different types of waste and explained which waste it is. Remaining participants too identified colour codes of the waste cards and which waste should go to which colour code and why?
Later, participants were explained about the myths surrounding menstruation and informed that menstruation is a natural fact of life and a monthly occurrence for the girls, women of reproductive age. Yet millions of menstruators across the world are denied the right to manage their monthly menstrual cycle in a dignified and healthy way. The role of teachers in gender sensitization and breaking the taboos were emphasized and the most effective teaching methods for imparting hygiene education were explained.
On the second day, the participants enthusiastically participated in a play card method, colour coding of garbage, story and concept formation methods, problem identification, expression and group level solving methods. Active and spontaneous participation happened from all the districts. By the end of the second day they had up-scaled their knowledge on training skills. After the event few suggestions were made by the participants like it would be good if more time was spent on developing content and presentations. It would have been nice if the activities took place in an open atmosphere etc.
Third day:
All the participants were divided into two teams and one team visited AP Tribal Welfare School, Kondapalli and the other team visited Zila Parishad High School, Guntupalli.
At AP Tribal Welfare School, Kondapalli, an inaugural session was conducted by IAESPH resource persons and Subba Reddy, Additional Director, Mid-Day Meal and School Sanitation.
In respective locations, a half an hour session was held following proper process on showing different cleaning tools, their use and purpose. How to use different kinds of chemicals in cleaning toilets were also explained. Later, 10 participants made a team and showcased how to clean toilets by the professional cleaning team of IAESPH. This was followed by a question- answer session and their doubts were cleared.
Participants were super excited for the practical demo sessions. They had many field level questions and duly noted all the guidelines given by trainers. They learnt different tools and their usage. Despite hot weather, participants were focused and they got cleared with all their questions and doubts in the interactive session with the field level experts and trainers. At the end of the session some participants requested for recorded guidelines and videos so that they would train at district level schools as effectively as they were learnt in the three-day sessions. Irrespective of their job level hierarchical differences, participants were supportive and friendly to each other.
On the final day, after field visit, there was a closing ceremony of the Three-Day State Level Workshop on School Toilet Maintenance presided by Sri B. M. Diwan Mydeen, IFS, Director, Mid-Day Meal and School Sanitation. Ajay Kumar, Vice President, IAESPH spoke about importance of Water, Sanitation and Waste Management in our lives, “One must participate actively, involve children, community and become a change maker and create a history by achieving the clean toilets’ mission of AP state government.” He thanked Sri B. M. Diwan Mydeen, IFS and other officials of School Education Department, representative of print and electronic media, Venue manager, resource persons; Dr N. Vijaya Kumar, Udaya Gali, Aruna Katragadda, Sangeeta M., G. Sirisha and IAESPH team from Delhi, Hyderabad, Tirupati who worked hard to make this event successful. On behalf of the Academy he expressed his gratitude to the Andhra Pradesh Government for giving IAESPH an opportunity to be a part of this truly path-breaking event. Aruna Katragadda, one of the resource persons, spoke about the training and appreciated the enthusiasm shown by participants.
Later, certificates were distributed to participants and feedback was taken. Training session concluded with great enthusiasm, learning and sharing.
