School Environment Improvement Program - Nepal

Jwaladevi Vidhya Mandir School is located in Badegaun, Lalitpur. Safe water program was launched in this school in June 2018. The Nature Club students are producing chlorine solution in the school from the WATA device provided by ECCA. This chlorine solution is then used to disinfect drinking water.

The school lacked drinking water station. At the request of the school management, ECCA supported the construction of Safe drinking water station (along with the water tank) in this school, which benefited the entire school (33 teachers and 224 students).

Mr. Gokul Puri, Principal of the school thanked ECCA and the donors and remarked that the construction of the drinking water station and the water tank has helped the students as well as the teachers.

We thank you for your support.

Pushpanjali Secondary School located in Taukhel, Lalitpur lacked separate facility for hand washing. Hence, at the request of the school management, ECCA supported the construction of hand washing station in this school, which benefited the entire school (40 teachers and 400 students).

Mr. Allen, Director of the school remarked “The construction of the hand washing facility will help to prevent the students from being afflicted by various diseases. Thank you for your help.”

The Student Club of this school has been successfully producing chlorine solution in their school from the WATA device provided by ECCA. This chlorine solution is then used to disinfect drinking water supplied to their students and teachers.

We thank you for your support.

ECCA has been working towards developing water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in the schools. In the developed facilities, wall painting was done in July 2018. The ECCA counselors painted WASH related messages inside as well as outside the toilet building and on the wall next to the hand washing tap. The objective of the wall painting was to make the students aware about WASH and orient them on the proper utilization of WASH facilities.

Before organizing the program, the schools were informed about the details of wall painting. The school principal, teachers and parents assisted for the effective management of wall painting program.

The wall painting was done during summer vacation (the date was coordinated with the school), so as not to disturb the students in their regular class days. When the school opened after summer vacation, students were excited to see the paintings. In addition to providing useful messages, the painting made the physical infrastructures beautiful.

“The painted hand washing technique has helped to remind the students on proper steps related with the hand washing” remarked one of the teachers. The school teachers and students were thankful to ECCA for organizing such a program in the school.

We thank you for your continued support.

In May last week 2018, Refresher Training on WASH, life skills, and nature club management was held in the three schools of Bhirkot village, Dolakha district.

1. Narayani Secondary School, 28 participants

2. Bhimeshwor Basic School,  27 participants

3. Ganesh Basic School,  26 participants

The participants included students, teachers and representatives from School Management Committee and Parents Teachers Association.

The objective of the training was to make nature clubs and other school stakeholders aware on

(a) the importance of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Menstruation Hygiene Management, and

(b) their role to improve such facilities in schools.

During the training, orientation on life skills as well as sessions on how to better manage school nature clubs was also held. On the last day of the training, the participants prepared six-month action plan to improve the environment in their respective school.

Through the training, the participants learned about water contamination, water purification methods, sanitation and hygiene, girl-friendly toilet, waste management, personal hygiene, first aid, possible activities for nature club activities.

We thank you for your continued support.

ECCA recently constructed separate boys and girl friendly toilets in Shree Sishu Shakshar Basic School of Mechinagar -1, Jhapa. The school has 193 female students.

Lack of proper toilets and water faciltiies had been problematic for both students and the teachers. The number of girls in this government school is much higher than boys. Due to lack of girl friendly toilet in the school, girl students have been facing comparatively much more adjustment problems during school time. "It was not uncommon for 2 to 3 girls taking leave everyday due to menstruation related issue", shared a female teacher.

Chadani, president of school's nature club, aged 13, has been witnessing different kinds of problem regarding menstrual hygiene. She expressed “We used to take lot of leave and we were also not able to express our feelings with our teachers, parents and even our colleagues. But after construction of girl friendly toilet and menstrual hygiene training conducted by ECCA, now we don’t take leave that often during menstruation. We now feel more comfortable talking about it."

ECCA has also guided the school club, such that the students themselves take care of cleaning the toilet, as part of their daily routine.

“Now, all our children are much happier. Especially, girl students are less compelled to go home during menstruation. The school club started to provide sanitary pads to female students without any hesitation. Also, with facility of changing room, towels, soaps the students are having a more comfortable learning environment”, says the principal. “We are very thankful towards ECCA for helping us create this environment”, he added.

Overall, the construction of the toilets and related facilities has contributed to better hygiene and higher attendance of students. We are very thankful for your support.