We have the option of downloading apps on our phone to remind us that we need to drink water. But what about school children? Now students of Telangana won't have to worry about this conundrum because just like in the states of Kerala and Karnataka, Telangana will also initiate 'water bells' in schools.
In a tweet on November 14, Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy issued directions to all District Education Officers (DEO) to implement water bell in schools.
Interestingly, a TRS activist posted on Twitter about how schools in Telangana could also ring water bells, just like it is being done in Kerala. The activist tagged the education minister as well as TRS Working President and IT Minister, KT Rama Rao, in his tweet. It was after this that the minister issued directions to DEOs.
While the idea sounds great, is every state in the school equipped with drinking water supply? While this onus lies on the state government, as per a report issued by the School Education Department earlier this month, there are as many as 7,372 government schools in Telangana that do not have drinking water facility.
T Vijaya Kumar, the Commissioner of School Education, has directed all DEOs to issue necessary instructions to headmasters of such schools to approach the government agency concerned and apply for a drinking water connection immediately.
Chava Ravi of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF) said, "We welcome the idea of ringing water bell as children often ignore drinking water in school. However, the state government has to ensure that drinking water connection as well as proper water storage facility is available in all schools."
As on Thursday, senior officials of the School Education department said that they did not receive any official communication from the state government regarding implementation of the water bell policy in the state.
Welcoming the idea of water bell, Hyderabad DEO B Venkata Narsamma said, "It would be a great decision to have water bell in schools. As of now, schools have two short breaks of ten minutes each, in the morning and afternoon apart from the lunch break, but students ignore drinking water during these breaks. The water break needs to be given separately."