Sanitation is recognised as a basic human right. The UN General Assembly in July 2010 had adopted a resolution officially recognising sanitation – “access to, and use of, excreta and wastewater facilities and services” - as a human right. For most of human history, people defecated in the open. But in the last century, a lot has changed with toilets becoming an integral part of homes in most parts of the world. Increased access to sanitation is one of the sweeping changes in humanity's ‘Great Escape’ as Nobel laureate Angus Deaton put it. The simple flush toilet is often taken for granted in higher income homes, but a lot of low income homes in India don’t have access to toilets. Denying access to sanitation is denying basic human rights. This is the spirit and idea behind focussing on increasing access to sanitation as part of the Swachri Bharat Abhiyan.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on October 2nd, 2014. As of February 2018, we are nearing 80 per cent of the Swachh Bharat target in construction of toilets in rural India with more than 6.25 crores of toilets constructed. No country in world history has ever built so many toilets at one stretch and provided access to sanitation to its people at this scale. It is an achievement that every Indian can be proud of. According to the Union budget, the Swachh Bharat Mission has made tremendous progress; sanitation coverage has gone up from 42 per cent in October 2013 to 60 per cent now.
But while infrastructure solves a part of the problem, it cannot completely solve another-behaviour change. Open defecation in India is not just about toilet coverage, it is also about deeply inbuilt cultural practices. In a lot of homes in India's heartland, a toilet in the front yard of the home- an area earmarked for the holy tulsi plant- is considered an unholy idea and so, is detested. Toilets are considered impure and a reason for that can be found in India's millennia-old caste system. According to Diane Coffey and Dean Sears, authors of Where India Goes , the reason for this aversion to toilets comes from the tact that manual scavenging was traditionally the job of the oppressed castes. Even with many people in positions of power and responsibility-ministers and bureaucrats-showing the way by emptying toilet pits themselves, this hostility toward toilets remains in rural India. Deep-seated ideas about hygiene are not limited to just toilets. There is a very strong belief in the idea that water that looks clean is fit enough to drink. Water filters or boiling water is not considered to be a necessity. It may have been truer centuries ago when water sources were not polluted, but post industrialisation and population explosion, groundwater and other sources are polluted almost everywhere. Hand washing is another aspect where deeply ingrained belief systems stop people from adopting a healthy habit. Using soaps to wash hands is not considered essential in most of rural India. We are losing out as a nation because of these unscientific but deeply held beliefs. While the rest of the world is moving towards a healthier future, India may lose out. For the demographic dividend to be an asset, we need healthier young people, not unhealthy individuals.
To change millennium-old beliefs, we need to look at creating lasting change in the minds of people. And behaviour change works best when it is done early. If you are a keen observer, you’ll notice an interesting change taking place in many villages in rural India. First generation school goers are more likely to ignore caste boundaries.
Education holds the key to long-term change in sanitation behaviour change. The next generation must learn about the need for hygiene and sanitation at the place where they learn the other important lessons of life-school.
The schools have changed them for good. The old rules that prohibit inter-mingling and inter-dining do not hold up in schools where friendships extend beyond artificial boundaries like caste.
Education holds the key to long-term change in sanitation behaviour change. The next generation must learn about the need for hygiene and sanitation at the place where they learn the other important lessons of life-school. We need to build a generation that doesn’t hold on to mistaken beliefs on sanitation, but understands the need for toilets, clean water, hygiene, cleanliness etc. Hygiene is as important, if not more important than arithmetic, reading and writing.
The Swachh Aadat curriculum is a 21-day curriculum that is created to teach children, between the ages of 5 and 10 years, the importance of hygiene. The curriculum teaches children about germs and the three important habits-washing hands at five critical occasions throughout the day, drinking purified water and using toilets and keeping them clean. The curriculum is taught in classrooms with the help of teachers for approximately 20 minutes for 21 days.
To make the curriculum interesting for children, who are the target group for this intervention, characters like Chamatkari Sonu (a superhero) and Kitabyutor (Kitab + Computer), activities, games etc are used effectively. The curriculum combines classroom teaching with practical demonstrations to influence children positively. Children are not only encouraged to learn for themselves, but also transformed into change agents bringing a sanitation revolution in their communities. The curriculum is taught in schools through books or e-curriculum where the required technological infrastructure is already present.
The Swachh Aadat curriculum will create a generation of Indians that grows up understanding the importance of hygiene during their formative years ensuring the long term-success of the initiatives in water, sanitation and hygiene.
Story of Shweta Rangari
Shweta Rangari is a 10-year-old student of Class IV in the Zilla Parishad Primary School in village Indrathana of Ner Tehsil in Yavatmal district. Shweta and her classmates were taught the Swachh Aadat curriculum at her school and recently, she served an ultimatum to her father to build a toilet and succeeded in convincing him.
After attending classes where the curriculum was taught for a month. Shweta was embarrassed to learn that she did not have a toilet in her house. She was also unable to fill one of the columns of the behaviour tracker, which is part of the curriculum. She returned home and tried to convince her father to build a toilet, if he wanted her to continue attending school. She stayed at home for 3-4 days, before her father accepted her demand.
The toilet is now ready, and young Shweta was able to fill the blank column in the behaviour tracker with pride-that she too uses the toilet daily. With Shweta’s toilet ready, school teachers and villagers lauded her for her perseverance and determination. The district administration recognised her grit and determination as part of the Republic Day celebration.
