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Karl Kübel Foundation for Child and Family works with the children (both boys and girls) studying in the government schools in Tamilnadu.

Two key aspects of work are: Propagating the importance of hand-washing, the simplest and effective way
to prevent most of the diseases and importance of menstrual hygiene to the girl children.

In general the roles of different stakes, direct and indirect, are considered while planning interventions but these go amiss during the actual implementation. Some such salient aspects/challenges from our collective experience are shared here under.

Getting the geographical dispensation of the locale ‘right’ is essential – area available in the schools for the toilets / drinking water facilities, the location of the school itself in the village/rural/sub-urban locality, water supply availability in the area, how scattered the residences of the children that study in the school are and finally whether these children have toilet facilities in their respective residences. A clear understanding of the above factors right at the beginning enables a project to plan a reasonably right mix of activities and prioritise them with respect to the vitality and time frame of the project to enable a consistent and sustainable involvement of the stakes
and improved state of affairs when project exits.

Some of the following results / involvement of the stakes getting mainstreamed into the project ambit helps the system.

• We always encouraged the PRI (Panchayat Raj Institution) bodies to get the schools connected to the main water supply that goes into the village. This connectivity ensures adequate water supply in the schools and this also results in a collective accountability mechanism should the water supply does not happen.
• Motivating the children and parents – those who have toilet facilities at their houses and those who do not – training efforts became focused – peer pressure worked wonders.
• The lady teachers in the schools developed a ‘menstrual calendar’ for the girls – to enable them to understand the importance of ‘menstrual hygiene’ and this calendar was useful for the girl children, teachers and the parents for individual follow-up as required. We also noticed that this follow-up resulted in reduced absenteeism of the girls during their menstrual cycle times.
• Involvementof ‘Parent Teachers Associations or ‘School Management Committees’ - in turn had a ‘watch dog’ effect on the miscreants in the society who tended to misuse the school premises during the school holidays.
• Involvement of various stakes strengthened the‘mutual understanding of individual expectation’ and also have a common minimum agenda for the system like school hygiene can improve individual hygiene, children could prevail upon the parents to meet basic rights on the hygiene-front, possible reduction in diseases and the consequently improved attendance in the schools and improved enrollment too etc etc         

In the present situation where COVID is rampant, approach to WASH is significant. Prevention of COVID may not be possible but sustaining WASH habits can help in reducing fresh incidences to a very great extent.

Nathan
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Karl Kübel Foundation for Child and Family works both directly with its unit Karl Kübel Institute for Development Education (KKID) and with partner organizations Native Medicare Charitable Trust (NMCT), Coimbatore, Imayam Social Welfare Association (IMAYAM), Coimbatore, Rural Education and Action for Liberation (REAL), Pondicherry and Vizhudugal Social Education and Development Trust (VIZHUDUGAL), Avinashi.

Dear Dr.Bella,

The translation is underway. As soon as it is ready, I shall send it to you for further sharing. Meanwhile the translation in Tamil for "Actions to manage COVID-19 Response" - sharing the thoughts with the headmasters of the schools is completed and sent to you for layout and other requirements yesterday.

I also want to share one of my experience and further thoughts below.

Regards

Nathan

My experience…

I found this practice in one of the government schools in Andra Pradesh.
What they did was: they had atleast 3 locations for the hand wash for about 180-200 children in all - they had worked out the lunch/recess timing in such a way that depending on the age group, they had scheduled the timing - younger ones first and the older ones at the end. They also had a student (from the monitoring committee) supporting the process - they used the liquid soap and children lined up (this was before the advent of CORONA in their geographical area) - the student manning the washing station gave 3 to 4 drops per child and also kept an eye on how the child was using the soap. I found this process interesting and could save some money rather than providing every child a soap or one soap per class. There was also an entrepreneurial possibility for rural women in a self-help group or a person in the school management committee or like that - plethora of possibility for the local economy in making this liquid soap.
 
The biggest challenge for the chief of the schools will be maintaining 'physical distance' (I prefer ‘physical distancing’ than ‘social distancing’) with the current way of working - student teacher ratios seem to be roughly - 1 teacher per 40-45 children in physical space of 10x15 sq.ft of class area as of now - the best way is to map the available area with the number of students and number of teachers who tutor them – and then devise the strategy & pedagogy so that we conform to the prescribed norms..
 
The teaching methods or the pedagogies have to be restructured - (1) the schools could operate in shifts with/without the extended hours of teaching for the teachers; (2) use volunteers to share the work load -these members can be from the school management committees or retired teachers who are willing to give this support; active involvement of district level officers in the education department.
 

We have some material for parents that schools can distribute during school closures 
docs.google.com/presentation/d/15RArA6if...R8U/edit?usp=sharing
An illustrated story "Cory COVID" is at www.dropbox.com/s/d086hdpe81g0jw4/Cory%2...0May%2028b.pptx?dl=0

Versions in Hindi and Spanish are coming soon.  I'd love feedback from anyone and anyone is welcome to use or adapt them.  

These materials come out of Hygiene Heroes, which has been working on health education in schools for several years.  hygieneheroes.berkeley.edu/curriculum.html

David Levine 
Professor, UC Berkeley 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hi Pamela,

Many thanks for your comment and sorry for the late reply. Bella sent you a message, but somehow something went wrong. This week we have updated the Knowledge Map for a 3rd time and it now indicates exactly which material is available in which language. I just checked and there are definitely also Spanish resources you can use for the Latin American context.
The updated version is available under the old link and also includes new materials that we earmarked accordingly: www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resource...library/details/3831

Kind regards
Linda

Hi Pamela,
Welcome to the SuSanA discussion forum! I was looking over older posts and noticed that you hadn't received a response to your question yet. I have sent an e-mail to the authors of the Knowledge Map for WASH in schools and coronavirus, so you should see an answer posted here soon. 
Meanwhile, if anyone has translated the documet already (Dr. T K Nathan for Tamil?), please post the translated versions in this thread. Thanks.

If anyone has information or experiences to share how Coronavirus is playing out in your school settings (good or bad examples), please let us know in this thread.

Here in Australia, the schools have used online learning for the last few weeks but are slowly re-opening schools for some classes and trying to implement some social distancing measures at school, as well as improved handwashing facilities. The young children (Pre-school and Year 1) as well as the oldest children (Year 11 and 12) are returning first in our state of Queensland (next week).

Regards,
Elisabeth

Hi! I found the Knowledge Map very interesting and useful for this delicate time we're going through. Is there any chance to have this document in Spanish? As I read some posts earlier, it will be very useful for Latinamerican context. If it isn't available yet, I can provide translation english to spanish! And I can finish it as soon as possible. Let me know.

Dear Dr.Bella,
Thanks once again.

We are working in 53 government schools in 2 districts in Tamilnadu - covering about 5300 children - girls and boys. Girls also get info, inputs and training on menstrual hygiene.

I have asked the team to translate the 'knowledge map' in Tamil (the local vernacular) with appropriate acknowledgement in the footer running through the document.  I shall share with you the final translation and also our experience thus on WASH in the government schools in the state. I shall also upload this in our website - free download and no tags attached.

I hope this meets your consent.

Thanks and regards
Dr. T K NATHAN
CHAIRMAN & ED KKF,
COIMBATORE

Dear Bella
Thank you so much. It will be helpful. I shall look through it for preparing our educational messages. May God Help us to get out safe and well.

Bilqis

Prof. Engr. Bilqis Amin Hoque, Ph.D
President. Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC), Bangladesh and
Adjunct Professor Rollins School of Public Health.

Buenos días:
Muchas Gracias por la información y me gustaria recibir toda la información. 
Trabajo en Bolivia con proyectos de Desarrollo Comuniario y Fortalecimiento Institucional, en Municipios de Oruro, Cochabamba, Tarija y Santa Cruz, y somos socios con el sector de salud y educación, para desarrollar procesos de Educación Sanitaria y Ambiental en las escuelas, coordinando con los Profesores, personal de salud, padres de familia y con los alumnos. Este material sería de gran ayuda para estos momentos.

Muchas gracias nuevamente, y atento a recibir sus noticias.

Atte,
John Rodriguez Medina

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Translation from Google translate (added by moderator):

Good morning.
Thank you very much for the information and I would like to receive all the information.

I work in Bolivia with Projects of Community Development and Institutional Strengthening, in Municipalities of Oruro, Cochabamba, Tarija and Santa Cruz, and we are partners with the health and education sector, to develop processes of Health and Environmental Education in schools, coordinating with teachers, health personnel, parents and students. This material would be of great help to these moments.

Thank you very much again, and attentive to receive your news.

Atte
John Rodriguez Medina

Bella Monse,

What can you do for poor hygienic students learning from primary & schools in Somalia?

Thanks
Mr. Yusuf Abdi
The CEO & Founder of LRDO- Organization

For further information please you can contact me on the emails below
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Dear WG7-members,
The WASH in Schools Network (UNICEF, GIZ, SC, WATERAID; Emory, LSHTM, among others) has compiled a  knowledge map  with links to relevant materials about COVID-19 for learners, their families and the education system. The map is intended for the time when schools are closed and in preparation for re-opening of schools.

We want to help you navigate through the jungle of information about COVID-19, specifically its relevance for the school community. Therefore, we selected relevant information from reliable sources with high quality for the education system, families and for pre-primary, primary and secondary school children.

We will update the material regularly and include new or currently overlooked material. If you come across helpful websites, links or videos, please respond in this thread or write a mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  We will check it carefully and include it in our knowledge map, if high quality is provided.

Best regards,
Bella Monse, WG 7 Co-lead
 

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Bella Monse, DDS, PhD
Senior Advisor
Fit for School - Technical Assistance for Effective School Health