SSHESchool Sanitation and Hygiene Education Project:

A comprehensive programme of the Government of India, Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), was initiated in 1999 when the Central Rural Sanitation Programme was restructured to make it demand-driven and people-centered. It strives to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with the broad goal of eradicating open defecation, effecting improvement in the general quality of life, and generating demand for sanitation facilities in rural areas through awareness creation and health education.

CEE is involved in a component of this initiative, the School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) project, primarily involving school teachers and children. Supported by UNICEF, it aims to evolve and strengthen awareness and understanding of sanitation and hygiene (S&H) in the community through the school system.

CEE prepared a base for large scale implementation, using following different kind of activities:

  • Textbooks of five states—Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh— were analysed in order to identify a common strategy for infusing S&H at the primary school level.

  • CEE is compiling the existing material (including web-based material providing links to relevant sites, films, case studies, programmes and statistics) on S&H from governmental organisations, NGOs and individuals, from six states—UP, Karnataka, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.

  • CEE is developing four wall papers, a cartoon book and an activity manual for teachers. Wall papers cover concepts under the thrust areas of SSHE. The cartoon book for primary students conveys sanitation and personal hygiene messages through lead characters consisting of a family of grasshoppers, who engage the child’s attention in these issues. The teachers’ manual incorporates hands-on activities on SSHE themes. It has background information, basic facts and explanations, and provides teachers with ready & reliable reference material to support activities, answer student queries and initiate activity-linked discussions. It also helps students identify, analyse, plan solutions, explore options, and internalize behavioural change.

  • To identify best practices to scale up SSHE, the processes for planning, capacity building, IEC and monitoring system were reviewed and best case studies documented in five states-Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. These will help government agencies, NGOs, funding agencies, planners, implementers and educators in water and sanitation to understand what makes a successful SSHE programme, and motivate them to take up effective programmes. The cases can also be used as resource material for training.

Contact:

CEE Ahmedabad
Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for Development
Thaltej Tekra
Tel: 079 - 26858002 to 8009
Fax: 079 - 26858010
E-mail: [email protected]