City schools give kids special breaks to wash hands and keep H1N1 virus at bay; some even get innovative with jingles and street plays to make it fun
City schools give kids special breaks to wash hands and keep H1N1 virus at bay; some even get innovative with jingles and street plays to make it fun
"RUB, rub, rub it clean; wipe, wipe, wipe it dry," resounds the room as 100-odd kindergarten students of New India School clean their hands. The children keep chanting the lines in their singsong voices till the teachers are sure all of them have washed their hands properly.
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With the new academic year starting and about a half-dozen schoolchildren already infected with the H1N1 virus, schools in the city are coming up with innovative ways to remind students of swine flu precautions.
"Before this, we were caught unawares, but now we are fully prepared. To remind students of what they must do, we are thinking of innovative ways of spreading awareness," said Meena Chandavarkar, director of New India School.
"For younger students, we have come up with songs, and after every activity we make them scrub their hands clean as they chant the song. For older students, there are swine-flu-themed assemblies. We also have the no-touch rule, where students are not allowed to hold each other tightly or closely," added Chandavarkar.
Municipal schools are not far behind. The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) instructed all the 134 schools run by it to start a new concept called 'swine flu break' from this academic year.
What an idea, sirji!
"It was my idea to start the swine flu breaks," said Vishnu Jadhav, education officer, PCMC. "We know that cleanliness and regular hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent transmission of the H1N1 virus. That's why I have insisted that all schools take a five-minute break every two hours where students are made to wash their hands. Soap dispensers, buckets and even towels have been provided to schools for this purpose."
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has followed suit, instructing both private and public schools to give students regular breaks and ensure children are washing their hands.
"Besides washing hands, we have asked schools to maintain a detailed register with complete details of students who report ill," said Shubhangi Chavan, assistant education officer, PMC. "Besides that, this year we have asked schools to provide lemon sherbet to students if possible as it helps to boost immunity."
Street plays
Lily Patel, principal of Sardar Dastur Boys High School, said her students were preparing street plays on swine flu.
"We have been reading about the rising number of H1N1 positive cases with concern. Apart from the regular precautions like checking children for symptoms, cleanliness and prohibiting them from mingling too much, we are preparing special street plays on swine flu," said Patel. "As a result of the holidays, students may have started taking swine flu lightly, and we want to remind them that they still need to be alert."
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