Thousands have lived without love, not one without water – WH Auden
A District with Need - Mewat of Haryana
With the mission
to find the right school to create access to safe drinking water for children,
the Sarvajal team set out with an open mind. The secondary data search took the
team to the district of Mewat in Haryana. Apportioned as a separate district
from Gurgaon in 2005, Mewat had alarmingly low indicators of education, health,
standard of living, public infrastructure and services.
Being a the semi-arid region with highly saline groundwater, there is an acute drinking
water shortage in the villages in Mewat, to the extent that they are dependent
on the neighbouring villages for water. The district also grapples with an unhygienic
environment and appalling living conditions. This, together with minimal health
infrastructure, further weighs down on its population’s health.
In comparison to
the rest of Haryana, Mewat’s sex ratio indicated a favourable trend in the last
census, but in contrast to it, the literacy rate among females is far lower
than that of the males in the same district. The conservative families of the
region preferred to bestow an edge to their male children by sending them off
to other districts or private schools for education. As usual, a girl child is
often burdened with household chores or married early and may not get to see
the lights of a classroom. A study commissioned by Niti Aayog also cited the ‘burden
of fetching water for the family’ as one of the reasons for girls dropping out
of school. This sets the vicious cycle of a girl’s life, in motion. Only girl
children who are fortunate enough would find their way to a government school. Given
this, odds are that we still would find more girl children in a Government
Primary School than boys.
All that was not
right in the district of Mewat made it just the right choice for a Sarvajal
intervention – the school that was selected as the Government Primary School
in Nagina.
About the Government Primary School in Nagina
Located in Nagina, one of the 5 blocks of Mewat, the school
was established in 1964. The school has 830 students, 23 classrooms, 18
teachers (in the place of 32) and 8 cooks to take care of the noon meal scheme. A broad range of issues prevents the school
from thriving — the infrastructure, dilapidated toilets, furniture that needed
fixing and more. The school had just the bare minimum –
the head master’s room is a witness to it.
But the greatest
of the hazards to the health of the children was the large dumping ground in front
of the school - stagnant water from sewages modelled a home to many a pig
family. Swarms of houseflies that enveloped everything around could send a
chill down any unsuspecting visitor’s spine. It reminds you of the hard task
that rests squarely on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan with our Prime Minister as
the key champion. It also reminds you of the indifference that plagues our
society – the resultant inaction.
The water
sources are two, a tube well with 2000 ppm TDS and water from supply stored in a
reservoir. When these were not enough school bought tanks of water. The school
did not have enough assistance to buy water all the time.
Arun from VI
standard has a great smile but dental fluorosis has already made his teeth opaque
with a brown stain, a sign of degeneration of teeth. His father works as a peon
in the bank, he lives in a joint family and has around 14 members in it. He
does not bring water from home but he drinks many times from the newly
installed water facility with purification plant since his class is the
closest to the water spout. Many children in the school have opaque teeth like
his, though it is not reversible, further erosion can be prevented if they
avoid water with high fluoride.
Sarvajal through a CSR
partnership with Dr. Lal Path Lab established a 500 LPH purification plant at
this school on April 26 2018. The water is purified with RO and UV/UF
technology and made available for children to drink through the day.
Girl’s education and water
The students
belong to an underprivileged migrant community that earns a living as farm
labourers. While female literacy is only
27% in Nagina, the fact that the school
has 436 girls to 394 boys made the Sarvajal’s team hopeful. One of the women teachers confirmed that
throughout Mewat this would be the norm- as boys get to go to private schools
and the girls’ enrollment in government primary school would be higher. Girls
would be taken off the school as soon as they have siblings to take care. The double standards for girls and boys very
visible and shocking but the team’s resolve to work in that school strengthened.
Ganga in class fourth brings her little brother who is two and half years old with her to school, her mom works in the field, the little one would get noon meals ( a generous portion of Kichri ) and water carefully fed by his sister – the school would allow that, if not the parents may withdraw her from school.
Rinku
in the same class comes from a large family of 14 people, her father and his
brothers live in the same house. She has 3 brothers, who go to a private school
Arya Samaj School in Nagina. She lives
far away from the school and has to walk for an hour to get to school. She
brings water in the blue bottle and fills it twice in the day. She smiled a shy
smile when she told she wanted to be a teacher.
With
the focus of the child picking up the beached starfishes and throwing them into
the sea one by one to make a difference to that particular starfish, Sarvajal
saw an opportunity to serve safe drinking water to the girls studying in the
government school.
The school turns the inauguration of the Sarvajal
plant into an advocacy platform
The school has
been struggling to ensure that it receives prominence in the eyes of the
government to attract financial support to keep it functional. The Headmaster,
Mr. Hari Chand invited the key stakeholders the community leaders, Block Education
Officer and Pachayat leaders for the inauguration, to advocate for the
different needs of the school. The
Headmaster said, “Today we have pure drinking water from Piramal Sarvajal through
their CSR partner and we are positive that it will improve the lives for
children, I am looking forward for support from all of you to improve the
school.”
He articulated
the benefit “To know there is an unrestricted supply of safe drinking water at the school will help the school gain recognition in the eye of the community. If the
parents know the children will get safe drinking water round the clock we will
be able to retain children in the school.”
Dinesh, a
teacher who has been with the school for the last one and half years said “From
a school strength of 717 last year17-18, it has risen to 830 this academic year,
this school is located at the centre of the village and news spreads fast, that
there is an arrangement for purified drinking water – parents have gained
confidence in school. Blessed be those who made the decision to put the water
purification unit in this school.
The Children We Serve
Generally,
children of primary school age need at least 3-4 glasses of water during the day with the number going higher in summers when the temperature is at its peak.
The scorching sun seldom deters the spirited young children from running around
in rigorous catch-me-if-you-can-games during lunch break. Bare feet and hot
sand don’t matter at all. This is all
the more reason to situate drinking water at a convenient, easy-to-run-to and
safe location. The ease has to be from an access point of view that encourages
these young sun-braving hearts to drink regularly. With the safety highlight, the water
needs to lure them in taste and motivate them to return to it many times a day
– it truly sounds like a mother’s job. “Paani peethe rahna beta – dhoop tej
hai”
Even running in
groups from one building to another aimlessly pulling at each other and
huddling together at the end of the run seems to be so much fun. Oblivious to
sweat gleaming on the temples, and trickling down the nape, the drying lips and
the parching throats, they are engrossed in play. Soon the little body start sending
signals to run to a water spout – Sarvajal’s safely housed purification plant
and the water dispensed at the right height for children welcomes them. The
sight of children in a row cupping their palms to drink from the flowing stream
of water from the tap, with steady
gulping sounds, with an ‘ah!’ that puts a satisfying end to that perfect drink,
wiping the lingering water from their faces with the back of their little
hands, is heartening. The water quenches their thirst and their wet palm cools their
face. The satiated look on the face of these little ones is precisely why
Sarvajal is here.
While this plant
is located in the primary section of the school, the opportunity to serve is
doubled since the premises also houses higher secondary school which has around
250 students the tbenefit of access of safe drinking water also can be utilized by these
adolescent girls.
Water Champions
Mrs. Alka,
Teacher of class two added “Children bring two bottles each day in summers,
heavy on their backs – and as you see it is hot and sultry – two bottles are
over in no time, children are thirsty soon and in this heat they get tired fast
and they are not attentive. With the water plant in the premises, children need
to bring just one bottle and refill it through the day during the breaks.’’
The community
awareness team visits this school once a month and works with the children to
help them understand why they need to drink safe water, drink more water and
how water can help them become smarter. This also includes early lessons of
self-discipline by way of helping the children go in a line to take water and
to get back to class as soon as it is done. They are also encouraged to take
water in their bottle when they return home. Through variety of participatory
methodology like singing, dancing, drawing and drama with simple messages, the team
engages the children.
Every child has
been given a blue bottle, so that they will continue to have water in the class
room and there is more time in the class to learn new things.
Many a reason
to keep a child from school, water should never be one!
When private schools
that distinguishes between the world of haves and have-nots, Government schools
hold the safety net for every child who has already fallen through the sieves
of privilege and fortune. While the opportunity to serve girls resonates at the
hearts, not to forget are the boys who are here due to social and economic
situations of their parents. Among those girls and boys are many who have
stunted growth due to nutritional deficiencies, many living with conditions
attributed at birth and many differentially abled- the school with its minimum
facilities have welcomed them and are providing them education.
Safe water can
keep them in good health, prevent them from falling ill with waterborne
illness, help children achieve some of their developmental milestones, continue
to study and rise above their current predicament – support them to have a
dream and pursue it.
