The Government of Andhra Pradesh is keen to streamline cleanliness and hygiene in all the schools and junior colleges in the state. “Under no circumstances should quality be compromised”- Sri Jagan Mohan Reddy, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh. To fulfil this task, the International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH) partnered with Andhra Pradesh Government to train Master Trainers under Toilet Maintenance and Hygiene Program. These master trainers will in turn, train about 1.80 Lakh staff and other stakeholders of all the 45000 schools and junior colleges across the state. A 3-Day State Level Training of Master Trainers Workshop was held from 23-25 March 2021 at Vijayawada to train about 160 master trainers. The State Level Workshop, first of its kind, was a part of Andhra Pradesh government’s initiative to streamline the school sanitation program by training all stakeholders. The stakeholders included, Head Masters, Community Resource Persons, Parent committees/College development committees, Toilet maintenance committees and Ayahs (female sanitation workers).

Background

In the light of the Covid 19 outbreak and to achieve overall health outcome of students in line with the SDG targets, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has prioritized the cleanliness of the toilets in a phased manner in Naadu- Nedu Schools across Andhra Pradesh.

Capacity Building of all the stakeholders was done by IAESPH at workshop held in Vijayawada for three days. The initiative is also aimed at giving a boost to another AP Government programme: Ammavodi- ‘Lap of Mother’. In this scheme, a child from the ‘below poverty line’ (economically weak section) is given an opportunity to study in educational institution irrespective of their background. 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. INR 1,000 each pooled back from mothers who received 15,000 INR as Ammavodi, to government as part of providing clean toilets to children studying in the schools of their wards. School Toilets get running water facility and an Ayaha to clean the toilets. A total INR 447 crore has been allocated for ‘Toilet Maintenance Fund’. The objective of the fund is to create equity, equality, accessibility and gender parity in schools. Earlier, especially girls were deprived of their basic right to clean toilets. After, the introduction of Ammavodi and Naadu Nedu schemes, the attendance of girls’ students has significantly gone up and the programme is seen as success in tackling gender disparity in educational Institutions.

1. AIM OF THE PROGRAMME

To impart training and capacity building of the Head Masters, parent committees /college development committees, toilet maintenance committees, sanitation workers, officials from the educational department and other stakeholders working in the field of sanitation, especially, maintenance of the toilets.

International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH), New Delhi was approached to deliver the above objective. Thus, an MOU has been signed between School Education Department, GoAP and IAESPH on 10th February 2021 at Vijayawada.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The intention of GoAP in giving top priority for the cleanliness of the toilets in the Government Schools and Junior Colleges in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is to achieve following objectives:

• To ensure hygienic conditions of the toilet complexes for better health of the students, teachers/lecturers and other employees;
• To avoid inconveniences to girl students which is expected to increase enrolment of students
• To impart training and capacity building of the Parent Committees /college development Committees, Toilet Maintenance Committees, Sanitary Workers, the Educational Officials regarding health and sanitation.
• To develop professional and scientific maintenance of the toilets in a mission mode involving the local community through optimal utilization of financial and human resources and through school/college participation.

3. MISSION & VISION

To engage, educate and evaluate the Master Trainers consists of Headmasters, Community Resource Persons, Mandal Education officers, Parents Committee and Ayahs, who will in turn train the other stakeholders on professional and scientific maintenance of the toilets by developing individual knowledge, improved attitude, life skills and hands on skills experience to explain and replicate in the community the various sanitation activities, methodology and procedures.

4. TARGETED GROUPS

The state of Andhra Pradesh is divided into 13 districts and has 672 Mandals. The approximate number of schools & Junior colleges in the entire state is 45,000. School Education Department, GoAP desires to train four persons from each school viz., at least one health worker, one Parent Committee / college development committee member, Toilet Maintenance Committee member and education officers. Thus, a total of 1,80,000 targeted staff of GoAP have to be trained in course of time.

TRAINING SESSIONS:

The model adapted is ‘Training of Trainers’ (ToT), and is intended to engage master trainers in coaching new trainers. A ToT workshop can build a pool of competent instructors who can then teach the training curriculum material or (content) to the other targeted workers/officials. Instead of having just one trainer who teaches a course for a long time, there would be multiple trainers teaching the same course at the same time in the ToT model, thus creating a broader reach with sustainability; and is much more cost and time efficient.

Frame work of Training Session (Onsite Training Programme /OTP)

Module 1: Basic principles of sanitation and cleaning

• Understanding the importance of cleaning
• Identify the essential components required
• Plan & prepare for cleaning tasks
• Role and Responsibilities of Ayahs
• Behaviour with students, teachers and other colleagues
• Etiquette and manners of Ayahs
• Personal Hygiene and Habits of Ayahs
• Time management during the task

Module 2: How to Achieve Good Sanitation Practices in the school

• Communication with Staff, Teachers, Students and Visitors
• Follow gender and age sensitive service practices
• Special attention to Divyangs (Physically Challenged Persons)
• Maintain standard of etiquettes and hospitable conduct
• How to maintain different personal hygiene
• Advantages of good personal hygiene
• What are social evils and its impact
• Keep sufficient stock of cleaning material
• Ensure availability of consumables
• Ensure monthly budget for cleaning material

Module 3: Equipment and Consumables

• Use of cleaning tools and implements
• Usage of chemicals
• Understanding of safety of the chemicals – pH, dilution factor etc.
• Any chemical reaction during the procedure
• Handling & Storage of equipment (weekly, fortnightly, monthly)
• Handling of inventory and its budget requirements

Module 4: Maintenance of School Toilets

• Know about the Hygiene and sanitation module of school
• Water sanitation and Hygiene in Schools
• Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
• 7 steps involved in cleaning of toilets, urinals and bathrooms
• Sweeping, mopping and cleaning of floor
• Surface cleaning
• WC and Urinal Pot cleaning
• Wash Basin cleaning
• Mirror cleaning
• Tiles cleaning
• Cleaning of fittings
• Cleaning of pathways leading to toilets
• Cleaning of surrounding of the toilet
• Know about Menstruation and Menstrual Hygiene
• Standard Procedure during Pandemic including Covid-19

Module 5: Waste Management

1. Wastes-

• Concept & Definitions.
• Historic trends & past practices
• Trends in waste accumulation: International & Indian scenario

2. Types & Sources of wastes:

• Solid wastes: Concept
• Municipal Solid Wastes (MSWs)
• Liquid wastes
• Broad Classification of wastes:
• Biodegradable wastes
• Non-biodegradable wastes
• Non-hazardous wastes
• Hazardous wastes: Special note on COVID-viral samples
• Other wastes: Infectious/Bio-Medical wastes, Industrial wastes, Agricultural wastes, Radioactive wastes, E-wastes

3. Impact of wastes on socio-economic-environmental factors

• Impact on health
• Effect on social structure
• Environmental Impact & Assessment

4. Waste management-

• Concept of waste management
• Waste Collection: Methods & Safety measure
• Segregation: Principles & practices
• Scientific approaches-importance
• Storage methods of waste: Principles-importance-consequences
• Transportation: Different approaches
• Waste management techniques: Role of 3Rs (Reduce/Reuse/Recycle) & Smart cities

Module 6: Field visit to schools for practical demonstrations and Training

Part C: Evaluation

IAESPH intends to develop the system for evaluating all the coordinators and master trainers’ who are recruited by School Educational Department, GoAP, on daily basis. One on one progress reports and the estimated completion dates of each individual is monitored by the training managers and approved by the training officers. Periodic visits will be done by the training officers covering all the four zones to evaluate the standard of ongoing sessions, perfection and sustainability of the learnings that shall be implemented by the sanitation workers and educational officials.