Karnataka's School Development and Monitoring Committee’s Coordination Forum (SDMC) has suggested that mass sanitation programmes, involving teachers and students in cleaning washrooms on the premises of their schools, should be held across the state, as per a report by The New Indian Express.
The new development has come amidst heated debate on school administrations making students clean toilets.
The official statement by the forum said that it strongly condemns the act of making students from a particular caste or community clean toilets and urinals in schools used by everyone. It also called the ruthless act an “unforgivable offence” under the Constitution.
However, the committee suggested that existing issues should be addressed and turned into a sanitation campaign.
“Teachers expecting outsiders or students from lower castes to clean toilets depicts discrimination. It sends the wrong message to students who come to educational institutions to learn,” said the forum.
It added that awareness should be created about the fact that cleanliness is an integral part of life and mandatory for all. One should not be of the opinion that it is a subordinate job.
The committee proposed the idea that students, SDMC, guardians and the local government should come together every Saturday and start a cleanliness drive. “School cleanliness should be made part of the learning process and become an integral part of school management,” said the monitoring forum.
TNIE's report mentioned that the initiative is led by educationist VP Niranjanaradhya, who added that the government should also increase the amount for school grants to purchase necessary cleaning equipment like brushes, brooms, phenyl and other chemicals.
“Authorities should provide two to three support staff under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) for half a day that can help teachers and children in the cleaning drive," said the forum, adding that public figures should be encouraged to be a part of Sanitation Saturdays for wider acceptance.
