Every year 15th of October is celebrated as Global Handwashing Day. This global advocacy day is observed to sensitise people around the world and raise awareness about the fact that handwashing is the first step to keep diseases at bay and help save lives.
In the present times of the pandemic Covid-19, handwashing has become more important than ever. Using of soap for proper handwashing is the most basic and simple way of stopping the spread of this contagious disease. This year’s theme is Hand Hygiene for All is a step towards encouraging all sections of the society to adopt this simple habit to keep oneself safe.
Smile Foundation’s health vertical, Smile on Wheels which has been serving people across the country by providing basic healthcare facilities has worked towards sensitising people from the rural areas and urban slums to adopt this habit and stay healthy. Demonstrations of proper handwashing steps, educating people about the importance of using soaps, washing hands before and after food, using of sanitisers constitute the daily routine of IEC activities conducted by these healthcare workers.
One of the most important aspects of raising awareness is to reach out to new and expecting mothers as they are the first point of contact for any child. In picture is a young mother from Eklingpura, Rajasthan. Healthcare workers reached out to young mothers like her to demonstrate the steps of proper handwashing to keep herself and her baby safe from diseases.
It is important to inculcate the habit of handwashing in children. It is the best way to keep them from falling sick by stopping the spread of germs. In picture are children washing hands with soap before attending the cluster learning session at Koucha AFC centre of Smile Foundation at Koucha village in Burdwan.
In urban slums and rural areas healthcare workers from Smile on Wheels conduct sessions to encourage the communities to follow proper handwashing steps to improve their health status, reduce the chances of infections through unclean hand usage.
In many parts of the world and also in India the extent of desirable practices regarding hand washing is still lacking and needs to be emphasized hence it makes the observation of Global Handwashing Day all the more important. Let us pledge to adopt the policy of each one teach one and encourage and educate about handwashing to keep ourselves and the community safe.
Smile Foundation’s Sampoorna project for nutrition and health in collaboration with PepsiCo Foundation connected the dots by focusing on reduction of anaemia through healthy eating among 1000 adolescent girls in Banaskantha, Gujarat
Over the past decade, gender equality has been recognized as key not only to the health of nations, but also to their social and economic development. Unfortunately in our country, gender equality still remains a far-fetched goal as a major portion of our population; verily the half of humanity – the female sex, continues to be denied not just their rights and an equal status, but even the chance to survive and better nutrition and health.
Even though the Government has taken some commendable steps to address the problems of female foeticide and infanticide, early marriage and high drop-out ratios of girl children through its Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative, one key factor that could form the link between saving the girl child and educating her has still not received much attention, i.e. nourishing the girl child through proper nutrition.
It is an accepted fact that nutrition and health from an early stage directly impact the growth, learning abilities and outcomes as well as in the future employability opportunities and other important factors in a person’s life. Particularly in case of girl children this becomes even more important as they are the forbearers of the next generation – healthy girls will grow into healthy mothers and give birth to healthier babies.
But just like everything else, equal access to nutrition and health is also a tough fight for most girls. Deep rooted gender bias in our society is one of the reasons for this – in the same family, you would find the male child being over-fed and pampered with food, and the female child being given only half of what her actual nutrition requirement is. While this is prevalent in both privileged and underprivileged sections of society, in the latter lack of education and awareness, along with poverty, also sometimes add to the stigma of underfed and undernourished girl children.
We only need to look at the prevalence of anaemia among women and girls in the country – one of the biggest markers of under-nutrition, to see how lack of nutrition has adversely impacted the health, and many other factors indirectly such as education, employment and the health of their children. As per the Global Nutrition Report by the World Health Assembly, in India, more than half (51%) of all women aged 15-49 years are anaemic.
As a small effort to bridge this gap, Smile Foundation, in collaboration with PepsiCo Foundation, had initiated the “Sampoorna” Project in rural Rajasthan. Focusing on adolescent girls, the project targeted 1000 girl children from 10 villages of the Banaskantha district, with the objective of improving their nutritional status, reducing the prevalence of anaemia, and enhancing education and employability opportunities to sustain a health-seeking behavior.
At the start of the project, Smile Foundation conducted a base study to assess the on-ground situation. The study revealed that malnutrition and the various diseases associated with it are a major contributing factor behind girls dropping out of school thus affecting the literacy rates. The study, assessing the nutritional status of adolescent girls (13 to 19 years) in the region, brought to light that 78% of adolescent girls are anaemic (varying from mild to severe), with 50% girls being moderately anaemic and about 13% being severely anaemic. Only 17.6% were attending school, with most respondents (49%) dropping out of school after Class 6 or 8. The study further revealed that around 84% of the respondents have never consumed any multi-vitamin or iron folic acid supplements, and most of them having no awareness of anaemia or ever having checked their anaemic status.
Sensitization being an important part of the project, a host of awareness activities were conducted, like the formation of Kishori Clubs which provided a safe space for the girls to meet every month for joyful learning and promoting regular consumption of nutritious food, weekly intake of IFA tablets and maintaining healthy habits including exercise.
To make the meetings more inviting, hygienically prepared healthy dry snacks made from locally available ingredients were introduced. Village level mega-cookery events that create a district and state level visibility around importance of nutrition for girls between the age group of 13 to 19 years were held. Knowledge building of the girls through social behavioral change communication (SBCC), life-skill education as well as vocational skill development based on local livelihood opportunities for the targeted adolescent girls was also an important aspect of the project.
Through all these need-based interventions, we got a favourable outcome in the community. After project completion, there was an increase in knowledge level of girls. There was a positive deviance in level of anaemia as well as BMI as majority of girls moved from underweight to normal.
If we don’t act now, the COVID induced social crisis will be the biggest the world has seen. A concerted effort involving the public and private sectors to create a universal social safety net can be a viable damage-control measure.
The World Economic Forum conducted a study on the major risks we face in the aftermath of the pandemic. It unwraps how the socio-economic, environmental and technological milieus will transform impacting multiple layers across the society. Job losses tops the list with analysts expecting a protracted period of recession. This slump will lead governments to roll out relief packages which will eventually burden countries with more debt.Global trade will slouch further with an expected 13-32 percent drop.The foreign direct investment (FDI) is predicted to take a nosedive of about 40 percent. These rapid downturns will manifest in the foreign aids for humanitarian issues like food insecurity especially in the war-ridden regions.
Technology,on the other, while acted as an enabler for business continuity,for many on the wrong side of the digital divide have the increasingly tech-driven world means receded further backwards. In terms of environment, while the initial days of lockdown led to a degree of drops in pollution, experts fear that with economies rebooting there might be a bounce back effect. Thus impeding all the progress made on climate action.
An insight by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)shows how unfolding of these episodes will exacerbate global social inequalities particularly impacting the vulnerable sections. For instance, homeless people are disproportionately bearing the health and economic impacts because they do not have the avenues to avail safe shelters and hence are highly exposed to the virus.
Older people too are an easy prey, especially those health conditions such as hypertensionand diabetes. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 narrative adds to their vulnerabilities. This section is perceived as weak, unimportant and a burden on society, a notion that reflects itself during treatment distribution and preferences. The risk of infections for persons with disabilities is heightened by issuesof inability in carrying out general self-care including personal hygiene. For them, not only has the service and support been disrupted, the UN DESA says many are excluded from the mainstream health information due to their condition. This increases the risks.
The other section is the informal workers – most of whom are migrant labourers. We have all been a witness to the ordeal these workers have undergone during the lockdown. The reverse migration that ensued exposed the dismal working conditions. The market that employs them did not want to even organize their transports back home. Standardisation of wages and social benefits was and will continue to be an issue pushing these workers further into poverty.
Unless we show urgency in drawing up a response strategy, the COVID induced social crisis will be the biggest the world has ever seen. There has to be a concerted effort from public and private actors to implement effective and universally accessible social protection infrastructure. This includes putting in place income and health securities for all. Making information accessible – especially to persons with disabilities. Mobilising youth through skilling to act as a limiting factor in the spread of virus.
“Sit idle no more Go get education” – Smt. Savitribai Phule. She worked for the deprived section of the community & opened the gates of education in India for them especially for the education of girl child. She also established a school in Pune for the deprived section & stressed on sensitised the people about the importance of girl child education during the British Era.
National Education Policy is the policy adopted by the govt to be implemented in the country by all the educational institutions. This is an opportunity to provide education to all children & implement a standard education system all over the country based on the syllabus.
After the Independence of India in 1947, the government addressed the problem of illiteracy in the country and took various steps to promote education in India. In the year 1968 govt of India adopted 1st Education Policy under the leadership of Smt. Indira Gandhi, the policy was amended by Shri Rajiv Gandhi in year 1986. Immediately after 6 years under the leadership of Shri Narsinmha Rao the policy also emphasized on the Banking process along free & compulsory education for the Age group between 6 to 14 years, Mid Day Meal, Promoting Girl Child Education, Adult Education for the school drop outs, focused on the deprived section of the community with various Social & Education Programmes. This policy also promotes Engineering, Architecture & JEE.
In the year 2019 under the government introduced the new education policy. In India this policy was accepted wholeheartedly by the educational institutions & educational professionals. All over India various organizations are working to reach out to maximum people & change agents, teachers, student’s leader, parents, para professional. The key highlights of the New Education Policy 2020 are as follows:-
The NEP proposes sweeping changes including opening up foreign universities to elevate education in India, dismantling of the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), introduction of a four-year multidisciplinary undergraduate programme with multiple exit options, and discontinuation of the M Phil programme.
In school education, the policy focuses on overhauling the curriculum, “easier” Board exams, a reduction in the syllabus to retain “core essentials” and thrust on “experiential learning and critical thinking”.
In a significant shift from the 1986 policy, which pushed for a 10+2 structure of school education, the new NEP pitches for a “5+3+3+4” design corresponding to the age groups 3-8 years (foundational stage), 8-11 (preparatory), 11-14 (middle), and 14-18 (secondary). This brings early childhood education (also known as pre-school education for children of ages 3 to 5) under the ambit of formal schooling. The mid-day meal programme will be extended to pre-school children. The NEP says students until Class 5 should be taught in their mother tongue or regional language.
The policy also proposes phasing out of all institutions offering single streams and that all universities and colleges must aim to become multidisciplinary by 2040.
If we talked about all these policies in details after knowing the deprived section of the community this policies looks great & can be the ideal policy in the future to fight with some social evil in the society. Analysis points:-
MiD Day Meal in Early Childhood Intervention can be the good step towards the malnutrition at the early age.
Various Exit Policy for the students those who are working to run the bread & butter if He or She drop out atleast he should have some Degree or Diploma in hand & can continue education in future.
This policy can boost the regional language & protect such language for the coming generation.
Foreign Contribution in the Education Institute can boost Institution to get high quality facilities in India & Set Up World Class Infrastructure within the country.
More or the less entire Education Policy looks good and can create an impact & improve the education system based on the govt allocated education fund & implementation process on ground.
Pandemics have significant psychosocial impact. Health anxiety, panic, adjustment disorders, depression, chronic stress, and insomnia are the major offshoots. Misinformation and uncertainty further give rise to mass hysteria. Covid-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented fear and uncertainty, especially among elderly adults.
COVID-19 is changing the elderly people’s daily routines, the care and support they receive, their ability to stay socially connected and how they are perceived. Elderly people are being challenged by requirements to spend more time at home, lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues; and anxiety and fear of illness and death – their own and others. It is therefore important that we create opportunities to foster healthy ageing during the pandemic.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO, expressing his concern on the matter said, “Older people carry the collective wisdom of our societies. They are valued and valuable members of our families and communities. But they are at higher risk of the more serious complications of COVID-19. We are listening to older people and those who work with and for them, to identify how best we can support them. We need to work together to protect older people from the virus, and to ensure their needs are being met – for food, fuel, prescription medication and human interaction. Physical distance doesn’t mean social distance. We all need to check in regularly on older parents, neighbours, friends or relatives who live alone or in care homes in whatever way is possible, so they know how much they are loved and valued.”
There are several reasons why the elderly are somewhat more vulnerable – they have more chronic conditions than younger people, their aging immune system makes it harder to fight off diseases, infections and viruses. Recoveries are usually slower and more complicated.
One important way to lower the risk of your older family members catching COVID-19 is to limit in-person visits. But this may be tough for older adults who cherish time spent with friends and family members. There is a need to understand that physical distancing doesn’t have to mean isolation or loneliness. We need to keep older adults safe, but also keep in mind that social isolation can have a negative impact on older people’s mental health.
The elderly rely on social connection more than most and they need it now more than ever. The elderly and retired sometimes need a helping hand and they also often need to have people around them.
In the pandemic-hit world, education has got a whole new meaning. Distance learning, online classes, digital classrooms, app-based curriculum have taken over the traditional classrooms. This transition is having multi-fold impact on the children – not only in terms of their learning outcomes and cognitive abilities (in case of younger children), but also on their physical and mental well being. However, despite the challenges, teachers and educational institutions around the world are taking various measures to ensure that the children do not lose out on their education with the schools having been closed down for several months now and carry forward the approach of blended learning for the development of children.
However, in the case of underprivileged children, the situation is much more critical because of challenges like accessibility to smart phones and other digital modes, and also internet connectivity. In addition to this, teachers are not trained to conduct digital classes and parents are not equipped to support the children with their studies at home, being mostly illiterate themselves.
To better understand the situation on ground, Smile Foundation did a survey of 14,000 children enrolled in our Mission Education Programme and found out that 56% of our students do not have access to smart phones, 12% do not have access to any phones, and around 30% do not even have televisions. For many of these children, even getting enrolled into schools, in Mission Education centres has been a very difficult journey. Many of them have overcome issues such as child labour and child marriage besides poverty to reach classrooms. But with the schools closed, their progress has been impeded and this pause for them could mean dropping out of the fold of education forever.
In this adverse situation, we are following blended learning, where customized solutions are being created for individual children. Besides smart phone based app-learning modules, cable-based television learning programmes, one-on-one mentoring, home visits, cluster learning sessions, projector based learning, and many other methods are being used by teachers to continue the education of children. Along with this, the teachers are also being trained and prepared for this new environment where digital education is going to be the way forward. The parents are also being counseled regularly on supporting their children’s education by allowing them to use whatever means are available at home.
Many children are also facing a difficult environment at home as their parents are out of job, so the children are also being positively engaged in different extra-curricular activities to ensure their mental well-being, and a regular helpline service is also being initiated to address their anxieties and concerns. Along with this several value education lessons are also being conducted for the overall development of the children into better human beings.
Covid-19 has created an unprecedented challenge for the society and the health system. I have been associated with the Smile on Wheels project in Kolkata for the last five years, but particularly during the pandemic I feel the mobile clinic has been very essential. Covid-19 has affected the health seeking behaviour of the community in many ways. On one hand, people are slowly becoming conscious about wearing masks, hand washing and social distancing. This is one key reason that people are reluctant to visit public health facilities which often remain crowded and also cater to Covid-19 cases.
On the other hand, many private clinics have closed down or shifted to online consultation, making it difficult for people especially the poor and vulnerable families living in slums or rural areas to seek professional health consultation. This gap is filled by local pharmacists and unregistered medical practitioners who provide medicines without proper diagnosis which can be detrimental in the long run.
In this scenario, the Smile on Wheels mobile health clinic provides access to professional medical practitioners at their doorstep – giving them much needed relief, and also more importantly, the belief that they are not alone. Take the case of Jashoda Kalsar. Joshoda claims to be 90 years old. She lives in a tiny shanty in Dhoparmath, Ultadanga. She has no one to take care of her; she lives on her own. She primarily survives on begging in the streets and nearby railway stations. Sometimes, her neighbours provide her some food. In the present situation arising due to Covid-19 pandemic she has nowhere to earn.
Joshoda is diagnosed with various ailments like hypertension, back-pain and osteoarthritis. She is too frail to travel to a government hospital to seek advice and there is no one to accompany her. Moreover she doesn’t have the confidence to deal with the processes in a government hospital.
Joshoda can neither afford a private consultation nor buy the medicines required for the above mentioned ailments. “I am totally dependent on the Smile on Wheels clinic”, she shares “I have no other alternative for my health care needs, and the best part is that for the last 3 years I am treated with respect and care”.
In every location where we visit, there are a few cases like Joshoda Kalsar – they are mostly aged, vulnerable and socially and economically deprived; the service provided by the Smile on Wheel clinic is critical for them.
In the last five years, we have benefitted over 85,000 children and families who were in dire need of our support. At present, the Smile on Wheels project covers over 20 slums and semi urban villages. I am glad to be a part of this project and hope that we can continue to serve the vulnerable population in the pandemic, and beyond it.
Critical thinking and conceptual clarity along with Experiential & Interactive Learning are the most important aspects which are needed for the students to compete in this fast world rather than rote learning.
National Education Policy 2020 aims at holistic learning of the students by recommending changes in the curriculum and pedagogy to improve the student’s cognitive skills. Till now, most of the students have practiced and are following rote learning which really prevents creative thinking and innovative skills. Their major focus is to score marks than understanding the concepts.
It actually goes from the teacher, they repeat the textbook content to the children, so that, they can memorize and reproduce in tests, which is hard-wired in the teaching practice. In rural part of Tamil Nadu, most of the Government schools instead of an interactive learning session have a one way broadcast of information from teacher to students. In exams, the children leave the known answers also if the question is framed differently. By practicing the wrong method of teaching, we limit the children’s ability to learn and it creates a fear of studies in the children.
Experiential andInteractive Learning: In addition to the existing Tamil Nadu’s educational system “Samacheer Kalvi” (a uniform syllabus between state and Matriculation schools), a standard pedagogy (hands on learning, arts and sports- integrated, story-telling pedagogy) for experiential learning will be adopted.
Effective learning always includes interactions, participations, discussions, discoveries and analysis. The teaching and learning will be conducted in a more interactive manner and questions will be encouraged. The classroom sessions will be creative, collaborative, exploratory and experiential. The NEP 2020 includes the hands on learning, arts integrated and sports-integrated education, story-telling based pedagogy, among other methods as standard pedagogy within each subject, and with exploration of relations among different subjects.
Fundamental Learning:People always admire an apartment by its outer attractive, paint color, design and its structure. But most of them would never think about the basement which holds the entire building. To run hard in this competitive world it is very essential to focus on the Foundational courses which create immersed root to the student’s future. The NEP 2020 brings the new system of Education 5+3+3+4 format. The first 5 years are exclusively to establish a strong base for the students (Foundation stage); it covers from pre-primary to Class 2, then the preparatory stage (Class 3 to 5), followed by the middle stage (Class 6 to 8) and 4 years of secondary stage (Class 9 to 12).
Three Language Formula in Tamil Nadu: To look back from the early days, the state was exempt from the enforcement of the official languages act. In Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Language is considered as the most classic language and is also one of the longest surviving classical languages. In the previous NEP 1986, the three language formula was reiterated and till now only English and Tamil (Regional language) was followed. With focus on mother tongue, hopefully the same will be continued in implementation of the NEP 2020.
Despite being one of the world’s largest producers of a number of food items, a significant part of India’s children remain undernourished, often resulting in child mortality. A strong fight armed with an aggressive awareness campaign will be the key in reversing this situation.
India recently celebrated a major gain in its child health index. According to a UN report, the country’s child mortality rate has significantly declined between 1990 and 2019 from 3.4 million to 824,000. Prioritising of neonatal services such as delivery of quality care at birth, home based newborn care through ASHA workers and multi-tiered facilities such as Sick Newborn Care Units to address issues such as preterm or low birth weight and sick neonates – have been the primary factors driving this success.
However, despite this gain, death of children under five caused by preventable or treatable problems like complications during birth, pneumonia, neonatal sepsis etc continue unabated informs UNICEF. What’s more, the current pandemic and the disruption of services it has caused in terms of supply of health and nutrition for maternal and child health, immunisation and nutritional supplement may further undo the progress made in the last three years.
Despite being one of the world’s largest producers of food items like milk, pulses, rice, and wheat among others, it is quite an irony that 14 per cent of our population should be undernourished. India needs a concerted effort involving an aggressive awareness drive through information dissemination and engagement of community and local authorities to mobilise action and reprioritize mother and child health.
The first step towards this is breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition. This can happen when proper care is rendered during the first two years of life – a critical window to build up the immune system of a child. Other measures – vital in strengthening a child’s health – are breast-feeding, consuming locally available, affordable and nutrient-rich food. Lactating or pregnant women should follow dietary diversity by consuming green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A-rich vegetables and fruits. Promoting kitchen garden can greatly make these fruits and vegetables affordable and easily accessible. With the COVID at its peak, special care should be taken on hygiene practices and social distancing.
The local authorities or the gram panchayats – as the primary responders to the marginalised population – can be pivotal in India’s fight against malnutrition and child mortality. These officials can not only help spreading the message around nutrition but can also support in assessing the current health status of children and pregnant or new mothers by sharing accurate data. Based on this assessment corrective measures can be undertaken. The Anganwadi workers can be instrumental in ensuring that all the welfare schemes for mothers and children launched by the government reach their rightful destination.
Last mile delivery of various nutritional programs has been a key challenge in most of India’s welfare initiatives. Therefore, the vision of a nutritious young India can be realised only when the responsibility is shared between the local authority, the community and the government. And this partnership can work seamlessly only within a framework with adequate accountability for each party involved.
“My father worked as sewage cleaner and I worked in a private job. As the lockdown started, our income stopped. Our savings were depleting and we were having sleepless nights thinking about how to manage our family’s expenses. I approached Savita Didi (Swabhiman coordinator) for help. Listening to my ordeal, she instantly suggested me to use the pile of clothes stocked in my house to make handmade masks. She taught me a simple way to make the masks and even advised to connect with the company I worked in for marketing of the masks. After negotiations, the company agreed on a compensation of Rs. 1.5 per mask and even provided thread and cloth for the same. Now, it takes me 4 hours to prepare 50 masks. At the end of the day now, I can sleep peacefully as I am able to ensure meals for my family and also say that we can inspire each other to become change makers” shares 22 year old Bhawna.
Swabhiman, Smile Foundation community engagement programme for empowerment of women and adolescent girls, has been working for over 15 years now to build a cadre of educated, confident, healthy, aware and financially independent women and girls who can become change makers for the society. Working with adolescent girls, the programme conducts sessions on menstrual health and hygiene, healthy eating, and other adolescent health issues to sensitize them and help them develop a health-seeking behavior. Special health camps facilitated by experienced gynaecologists are also organized to give them access to basic healthcare services. Similar workshops are held for holistic life-skill development of the girls on topics such as confidence building, personality development, yoga, self defence and financial literacy.
Meritorious girl children are awarded scholarship to complete their schooling and help them pursue higher studies. The Swabhiman scholars are taken on educational trips and exposure visits, attend career counseling sessions and inspiring sessions with women achievers, and get special assistance like free tablets to help them excel in their chosen fields of study.
During the pandemic, as schools and colleges shut down, the Swabhiman team became even more active connecting with the community girls on call and through other digital media.
This was to ensure that the girls can continue to learn and move ahead with a positive mind space to become the future change makers. Recent research has showed that youth are one of the worst affected population groups during the pandemic, particularly their mental health has been adversely impacted. Loss of studies, jobs and opportunities due to the lockdown and the ensuing financial crisis has resulted in increased anxiety, fear and depression. In case of adolescent girls from socio-economically disadvantaged families, the situation is worse as they face the possibility of being coerced into marriage because of a break in studies or career. The Swabhiman team is providing a support system to these young girls and also regularly counseling their parents.
