J.A. Femi works as an e-learning teacher in St. John Vianney’s Primary School in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. She is also the technical supporter for e-learning at Visions Global Empowerment India, an NGO based in Trichy. Femi was one of the participants in the “Hygiene with Chhota Bheem” workshop for Visions Global Empowerment India.
A passionate and resourceful educator, Femi loves to learn and teach in her own way. She knew that open defecation was not a challenge in her district, and planned to implement only the ‘Hand washing with soap’ module of the curriculum. A few weeks after the workshop, she facilitated the games and activities with her students, and noticed positive changes in their behaviour almost immediately.
To motivate her students to successfully develop habits of washing hands with soap, she devised her own method of keeping track of and rewarding students for good hygiene practices. By making student leaders accountable for the class’s learning and by awarding stars and rose stickers on a weekly basis, Femi encouraged the children to monitor their own learning and build good habits over time.
“When I asked parents, they were very happy to say that “My child washes her hands after using the toilet and before eating, she herself makes the soapy bottle at home…”
“What I have learnt from this is that, we as teachers can definitely bring a change in children. You can also follow the same method or can come up with any other innovative methods to motivate them. We will act now for healthy future of our children. Let’s live a healthy life.”
We’re inspired by Femi’s motivation and we have followed her lead to integrate parts of her approach into our curriculum.
