Adi Dravidar Welfare Primary School is located in Melma Nagar, a slum area in Poonamallee, Tamil Nadu. With low access to toilets, open defecation along the town's roads, and right outside the school, was common for kids & adults alike. To address this issue, the School Management Committee (SMC) held monthly meetings between teachers and parents. Teachers also tried to raise the public health concern during school admissions and when they went out to the community to carry out census duties by the government. After the teachers attended the training program for Hygiene with Chhota Bheem in 2018, they were equipped with more innovative ways to talk to parents about the importance of toilets and the dangers of open defecation. This time however, the teachers were not alone in advocating to the parents. Hygiene with Chhota Bheem empowers students to become the change-agents, and after the program, students started insisting to their parents that they felt ashamed to defecate in the open and that they needed a toilet. Their collective persistence paid off when many families started building toilets at home. Thanks to funding from the government, more than 50 toilets have been constructed here in the last year. “... After this program, students created awareness among parents and now, everyone has constructed toilet in their home itself. They have (stopped) defecating in the open and the roads are clean now. I feel very happy about this! This program was very useful for students and in my opinion, this is beneficial not just for the students, but for the households and society as well.” said the school’s Headmistress, Ms. B. Ammu.
Ms. Ammu is very happy that the roads and school are now healthier for everyone! We're so proud to see these students empowered by knowledge about sanitation and hygiene improving their communities and defending their health!
