The dilemma:
During our fieldwork in the rural areas, we have encountered concerning issues, mainly belonging to one of the following categories: environment and sanitation. These issues have to do with the introduction of modernity in communities that more or less live in a traditional way.
The way everyone throws away plastics is an example of this; people have always used bio-degradable products and are not aware of the impact to their environment when non-degradable garbage piles up.
Diarrhea is one of the most common diseases, caused by poor sanitation. When children are ill they can not attend classes.
Our aim:
Care For All – Nepal tries to uplift the quality of education in every possible way. We build schools, hire extra teachers and we provide teachers’ training programs. Other programs handle literacy and sanitation issues. We want to children to follow classes in a child friendly, stimulating and healthy surrounding.
Our method:
We will give interactive awareness trainings at all schools where we have done projects in the past. The target group of the awareness program will be children of primary school level, in the age of three to twelve years old.
Nailcutting, washing of hands, brushing tooth, and handling garbage are some of the topics discussed.
The results:
We have already launched several try-outs of the awareness program at different schools. At this stage it is too early to state that the situation regarding environment and sanitation have improved, but we believe that awareness will help not only the students but in the end also the people in the villages. We will monitor the progress during our regular visits to the schools; one method is to check the attendance by children in the classes.