The Swachh Bharat Mission is considered the largest sanitation drive in the world to date. No other sanitation initiative even comes close. After all, who else has constructed over 11.28 Cr household toilets in just 10 years?
While that’s probably the number that gets talked about the most, there are several other markers that are equally noteworthy. According to the Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Shekhawat, only 38% of rural families had access to toilets in 2014. Today that number is 100%. Families save roughly Rs 50,000 per year in medical costs, and we have been able to prevent the deaths of 3,00,000 children so far.
Infrastructure aside, the real work of the Swachh Bharat Mission is just beginning: that of changing the behaviour and mindsets towards sanitation.
This is understandable. If 10 years ago, only 38% or rural families had access to toilets, that means 62% didn’t. This 62% have only just started using toilets, and most likely, not all of them know how to use it correctly and/or keep it clean and safe. This is because, culturally, we don’t talk about sanitation. The subject is too intimate to be spoken of in polite society. Children learn from their parents when they are young, and that’s where the education stops.
However, if the parents didn’t have a toilet, and they never learnt how to use one, then who will teach the children? On the one hand, the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Mission has recommended that a chapter on sanitation practices be included in the school curriculum from the first standard itself. On the other hand, this is a topic that children aren’t comfortable asking questions about, particularly in a classroom setting.
This is the gap that Sesame Workshop India, an educational non-profit, bridges. Under the aegis of Mission Swachhta aur Paani, Harpic partnered with Sesame Workshop India to promote positive sanitation, hygiene knowledge and behaviours among children and families through schools and communities, engaging with 17.5 million children across India.
For the uninitiated, Mission Swachhta aur Paani is a movement that upholds the cause of inclusive sanitation where everyone has access to clean toilets. It advocates equality for all genders, abilities, castes and classes and strongly believes that clean toilets are a shared responsibility.
The partnership between Sesame Workshop India and Mission Swachhta aur Paani has come up with a brand new Sanitation for Good Health curriculum aimed at children at the preschool level that educates, entertains and engages children with the topic of sanitation and toilet hygiene, and the role it plays in their own health and the health of their families. It uses age appropriate communication in the form of two characters: KK Kitanu and Neela Jaadugar whose adventures serve to teach children.
At the event celebrating the culmination of Mission Swachhta aur Paani Season 3, Akshay Kumar partnered with Sesame Workshop India in a live skit with the Sesame Street characters. Between Akshay’s impeccable comic timing and endearing dialogue and puppetry, this short skit managed to communicate the 4 key tenets of the Swachhta checklist, while thoroughly entertaining the audience.
But why all this focus on children? Because the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Mission has also found that children are great agents of change. Aiming education and messaging at them affects the whole family, as children campaign for good toilet hygiene and toilet access within their families. Moreover, children who get accustomed to using toilets, never go back to the old ways.
As Saurabh Jain, Regional Marketing Director & SPOC at Reckitt Hygiene India observed, “For us to not have the same conversation in another 10-20 years from now, we need children to understand what sanitation is, and what good toilet etiquette and behaviour is. More so, we have to deliver this information in a way that doesn’t feel preachy. That’s why I am supremely happy with the way we have shaped the module at Sesame Street – you can see it spark genuine interest in children, and that is when they become crusaders and you know they will take the message of sanitation and toilet etiquettes to their families.”
As a part of the same panel discussion, Sesame Street’s Sonali Khan made the observation that even though the event was choc-a-bloc with people, the toilets at the venue were spotless. “The toilet was super clean because this room is full of folks who are Swachhta Champions who are walking the walk and talking the talk. This is something we can learn in a very easy and simple way. At Sesame we believe in catching them young. You can build good habits when children are small and they can grow into responsible adults. This is a concept in behaviour change called ‘normalising the norm’. How do you make it fashionable to be hygienic, to want to be the champions of sanitation. It’s the coolest thing you could ever do! That’s where we need to move.”
Fortunately, a strong beginning has been made. The Swachh Bharat Mission brought a sea change in the mindsets of the common man in India. But in a country where languages, cultures and even landscapes change every few kilometres, there is no standard “common man”. Each place, each culture has its nuances, and the work of navigating the nuances of our little pockets of the world falls to us.
To that end, Mission Swachhta aur Paani empowers us with a repository of information on any and all topics related to sanitation: from understanding how to campaign for new public toilets to effective ways of talking to children about washing their hands properly. Arm yourself with the information you need here, and do your part in building a Swasth and Swachh Bharat, one conversation at a time.