School water supply, sanitation and hygiene education : India

Although school water supply, sanitation and hygiene education is an important part of the rural water and sanitation sector, it has been a neglected area in India, until recently, largely because it lacked a clear institutional home. Few schools had adequate provision for girls, boys and staff members, both in terms of water supply and sanitation. Hygiene education was not part of the curriculum. This may have undermined the quality of education received by school children, especially for girls.
The Government of India, fully committed to extend proper water, sanitation and hygiene learning coverage to all rural schools to ensure child survival, has therefore launched a reforms initiative to cover all rural schools with basic sanitation and drinking water facilities.
SSH education has been planned to create healthy schools, bringing about behavioural change for lasting impact on children and subsequently on the community. Demand driven and community led programmes has been implemented to accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals of halving the rural population without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities by the year 2015. Hygiene education and anganwandi sanitation has been given prominent importance in a Total Sanitation Campaign that had to cover all schools with toilet facilities by 2005-2006.
This technical note was prepared to help programme implementers in informed decision making and build a comprehensive and clear understanding on SSHE. It treats the importance, the benefits, the initiatives to be taken, the sustainability and all further aspects of the implementation process.