Absenteeism due to water borne diseases steals precious learning time for students in government schools across India. Jaldhaara aims to provide a reliable and high quality service of providing purified drinking water to schools across its footprint, thereby reducing the number of days that students are absent due to this issue. This service will be reinforced by awareness creation programs that will educate and familiarise the students with good Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) habits.
Government schools across Telangana (a newly formed State in India) face a huge budget crunch and lack some of the most basic facilities for ensuring the students a safe and healthy learning atmosphere. While water is provided to the schools through pipelines or bore wells, the quality of this water is not potable and for many of the students who come from either socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, there is no option but to consume this contaminated water.
The project envisages to provide purified and safe drinking water on a daily basis from a nearby water purification unit. This service will ensure that the school children get at least one (1) litre of purified water per day to drink while they are at the school. Jaldhaara will also conduct awareness programs and activities to sensitise the benefits of safe drinking water to the students. The aim of these programs is to take this information beyond the walls of the schools and into the homes.
This project is expected to reduce absenteeism in the schools (a significant % of which is caused by waterborne diseases) and improve the learning quotient of these underserved and marginalised children. Given that education is one of the key factors which has the ability to raise these children from the spiral of poverty, the provisioning of safe and purified water through the year will encourage parents to send their wards to school for a better and healthier future.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
