The South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) is a network of women journalists based in each country of the region — that is, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. WE STAND FOR freedom of speech and expression, the fair and equal representation of women in the media, as well as equal opportunity for women in the media. Our aim is two-fold: We want to deepen our network inside our countries so as expose each other to the wide variety of stories around us as well as promote best practices in journalism; We also want to create a digital platform that will showcase our work as well as our interests and ideas across all the countries of South Asia. We believe that the right to speak freely goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility to dissent, and yet across our region, censorship and crackdowns and plain fear are being used by powerful governments to prevent the story from coming out. In these circumstances, a network of journalists — of women journalists — who demonstrate the power of cross-border networking in standing up to these values of a free and responsible media, is increasingly important.

Among these efforts to promote both national and cross-border journalism — which includes the provision of grants to women journalists to pursue their stories and arrange field visit — is a highly valued collaboration with UNICEF, which was launched in 2017. The theme of the inaugural SAWM India-UNICEF India Media Initiative was “Voices of Adolescents.” Eleven women journalists from English and regional media across the country wrote and reported untold stories of adolescent girls and boys and presented them to over 25 million readers and viewers in their respective publications.

For the second edition in 2018, SAWM India collaborated with UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Initiative (WASH), on the theme “Gender and Sanitation.” This year, our funders supported 14 journalists. SAWM India makes it a point to make the selection of these journalists diverse and inclusive. Which means that journalists from big media organisations like Times of India, Indian Express, The Hindu, Prabhat Khabar, PTI, Mirror Now, along with journalists from smaller regional language newspapers and TV, as well as independent journalists participated in this exercise.

The program enabled the reporters to travel to other states to report their stories, an opportunity often not offered by media organisations. They visited villages and towns where sanitation projects were making an impact on the lives of young girls and women. The participants were also encouraged to travel on their own.

Providing resource and other support for quality journalism is important to SAWM. As in the first year, this year too we held a pre-departure briefing. It was attended by experts in sanitation, from UNICEF as well as those seconded to the government, as well as veteran journalists who have written on gender and sanitation issues. A report on the pre-departure briefing features in this report.

The program greatly values social media posts from the field, sent by participant journalists. These capture the interface of women journalists with women in villages or slums and the impressions they make on each other. In a sense, these are “stories behind the stories,” and need to be recorded as such.

Everytime Children are considered as the Marginalised community, the reason behind this is, they don’t have any political importance. Here the school of West Bengal sets a trend for forming a Children Cabinet. The Cabinet comprises of 5 members, the Prime Minister, Food Minister, Health minister, Education Minister and Sports Minister. These little ones have a meeting every week discuss about the problems and finds Solutions. This Helps the Children to Motivate themselves and emerge them with political and Social Understanding.

குழந்தை நேய சமூகமாக இந்தியா மாற வேண்டும் : அதற்கான எடுத்துக்காட்டாக திகழும் ஒரு பள்ளிக்கூடம்

The Gandulbari Primary School is situated in the Hura bloc of the Purulia district West Bengal. Apart from the students’ studies, it pays attention to building awareness about personal hygiene. With the help of community organisations, it has created a proper sanitation infrastructure. The students are making good use of the facilities. Washing their hands well before taking their mid-day meals is the starting point of their daily hygienic practices. They follow their teachers’ instructions regarding this as carefully as they follow their lessons. The school received the ‘Nirmal Vidyalay’ (clean school) award in 2015. Here is a video report.

পুরুলিয়া জেলার হুড়া ব্লকের অন্তর্গত গুন্দলুবাড়ি প্রথামিক বিদ্যালয়।  খাবার আগে হাত ধোয়া থেকে শৌচকর্ম স্বাস্থ্য বিধানের সব কিছু অক্ষরে অক্ষরে মেনে চলে ছাত্রছাত্রীর। ২০১৫ নির্মল বিদ্যালয় পুরস্কার পেয়েছে স্কুলটি। স্কুলটি ঘুরে দেখে একটি বিশেষ প্রতিবেদন।

Source: khaboronline

School begins early for Pompy Biswas, Nitraban Hazarika and Krittika Das as they don the hats of ‘swachh sevaks’ to check whether the water tank has been filled, hand washing area cleaned and soaps put in place.

The three students of Azara Keotpara Lower Primary School, along with their fellow mates, have set an example in Kamrup (Metro) district, near here, by taking upon themselves the responsibility of maintaining hygiene and keeping the environment clean, not just around classrooms but homes too.

At Sajjanpara Lower Primary School, nearby, children keep a check on their parents and relatives too. They take time out to impart lessons on cleanliness to their neighbours and other members of the community.

The Assam chapter of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, along with UNICEF, has piloted the cleanliness drive to ensure less absenteeism in schools, said Rajib Dutta, the project’s engineer for Kamrup (Metro) district.

“It is the schoolchildren who have become role models for the community at large by moving beyond the confines of the campus to take their cleanliness initiatives to their family and the extended community,” he said.

A UNICEF report had pointed out that there was consistent evidence that hand washing with soap at critical times – before eating, while preparing food and after using the toilet – can reduce diarrhoea risk by about 45 per cent, Dutta added.

Likumoni Das, a Class III student of Azatpara school, said they were keen on passing the knowledge they have acquired to their parents and relatives.

“After learning the basic rules of hand washing, we found out that our parents did not follow the methods. We have now taught them how to maintain hygiene,” she said.

The headmaster of her school, Kamal Chandra Goswami, said he has built separate toilets and hand-washing facilities for boys and girls.

“I am happy to see that students have become torch-bearers of the cleanliness drive here,” he stated.

The parents, too, have joined the initiative by donating soap cakes to the school.

“We are learning something new every day from our children. These hygiene practices have become a part of our daily routine,” Amila Das, a mother and member of School Management Committee, said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Subhan Chandra Bodo, the headmaster of Sajjanpara LP School, said it was the children who convinced their parents to install water filters at home.

“As part of the government and the UNICEF initiative, children have not just learnt about keeping themselves clean, they have also inspired parents and relative to build toilets and install water filters at home,” he added.

Sweta Patnaik, the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) specialist of UNICEF, said philanthropists, corporate houses, civic and faith organizations in Assam have been requested to join the drive to extend its reach to every nook and corner of the state.

“We have taken initiatives to mainstream ‘WASH in School’ programme through trainings of teachers and headmasters and orientation of School Management Committees members,” she said, adding that a “lot more” had to be done to ensure that maximum number of people benefit from the drive.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Students of Sajjanpara primary school are washing their hands in a group with a beautiful song before having their mid-day meal.

source: Business Standard

“Utho, Jaago, Lokhyo naa pohchano porjonto thaamo naa (Get up, Wake up, and until you find your destination don’t stop),” is the welcoming phrase at the entrance of the small primary school in Gundlubari Village, situated at Hura block in Purulia District of West Bengal. On entering the school, the course towards the classroom, resembles a highway with milestones, traffic signal and signboards in which slogans like “Safe Drive Save Life” are imprinted. The use of cartoons and colourful graffiti conveying social messages, instructions to children about the various do’s and dont’s in the school are thoughtfully implemented to attract children.

In recognition of its efforts, the co-educational school from Grades 1 to 4 which has an attached pre-primary section, received the Nirmal Vidyalaya Award in 2015 and Sishumitra Vidyalaya Puruskar in 2016.

The Gundlubari Primary School has a gleaming look, with children reciting aloud their chapters, playing around or engrossed in their co-curricular activities. “I believe, for all-round development of a child it is important to engage them in other activities apart from classroom teaching,” says Pratap Chandra Mahato, the Headmaster, who has been rendering his service to the school since 2014.

However, the situation was quite contrary to what it is today. Earlier people were reluctant to send their children to school. The people, mostly daily-wage earners did not pay much heed to the importance of education. Moreover, they stayed away from their homes in search of jobs, as a result of which the children were deprived of basic necessities. “According to documents there were only 40 to 45 students registered in this school, and among them only 10 or 12 students used to be present. Everything was scattered, but somewhere I knew, I had to take a stand. Eventually, I started working on the various aspects of the school curriculum and today I get support from almost everyone, be it the villagers, or the parents, the BDO and the Panchayat. The students also enjoy coming to school and now we have a total of 79 students,” informs Mahato.

Overall, the school is very attractive. A distinctive feature of the school is the well-maintained, clean and green ambience which includes the garden, play area, playground and a vegetable garden. The school practices rainwater harvesting, solid waste management and designs handcraft items made out of waste materials. It consists of a room filled with artefacts which is divided into a library, science laboratory and a primary healthcare centre. “The decorum of the school is maintained by teachers and the students. We also engage local artisans for the artworks displayed in the school. I alongwith, the assistant teacher and the children clean the premises, prepare compost from the solid waste management system, plant trees and cultivate the vegetable garden,” he adds.

The school also has a separate dining area, adjacent to which is the vegetable garden, where vegetables, herbs and plants of various types are sprouted up in sequence. Interestingly, the wash basin is installed according to the height of the students and instructions related to mid-day meals, benefits of washing hands, and use of toilets are amply used and bullet marked on the walls of the school.

“The children here are very active, disciplined and energetic. The environment of the school is child-friendly, hence it allows the children to open up their minds and explore things differently. The students are fond of drawing, singing, dancing. In terms of the basic necessities they have access to RO drinking water and are taught about the five steps of washing hands. Separate toilets for boys and girls are also available with water supply. A weekly menu is prepared and mid-day meals are cooked by the women from Self Help Groups (SHGs), who also take care of hygiene during food preparation,” says Rupali Mahato, Assistant Teacher of Gundlubari Primary School.

Gauri Bauri, a student of fourth standard is fond of her library. “I like reading poems and short stories from the books we have in our library. My favourite subjects are Bengali, Mathematics and English and I aspire to be a Police Officer one day. We encourage our parents and family members to adopt healthy habits and maintain cleanliness like we practice in our school,” she says.

Among the many interesting factors, one of the focal point of the school are the two blue-coloured post boxes installed within the premises. Gopon Kotha (Confidential Matters) and Poramorsho o Abhijog Baksho(suggestion and complaint box) – are the names inscribed in the two boxes. Mahato explains, “The first box (Confidential Matters) is specifically meant for the girls and women — the students, our assistant teacher, the SHG women in our school, or any women from the village who faces any kind of discrimination, be it domestic violence, health issues, sexual harassment, existing in the school or within the area can drop their problems in the box.”

Rupali further states, “I alongwith a student from the child cabinet maintain the confidential box. After due consultation and discussion of various matters with the committee members and the concerned authorities of the school, we finally come to a solution and provide assistance to the victims in whatever way possible.”

The headmaster informs that an issue of domestic violence due to alcoholism was tackled and the information came through the confidential box. Proper counselling was provided to the victim and the family, who are now leading a normal life. Moreover, the timely intervention of women of the village against the spread of alcoholism led to the closure of three liquor shops in the area.

“The other post box is meant for the students and the general public. Here, any kind of suggestion regarding the improvement of the school, infrastructure, curriculum or complaints in case of any mischievous act conducted by the students are reported,” adds Mahato.

The primary school has a “Child Cabinet”, “Mata Siksha Committee”, and “Student Safety and Security Monitoring Committee”. Here each member of the cabinet or the committee has a different role to play. The child cabinet comprises of the Prime Minister, Sports Minister, Food Minister, Education & Environment Minister and Health Minister. They look after the sanitation, sports facility, drinking water facility, midday meal and cleanliness of the institute. Every Saturday, the cabinet meets in the school, where problems are discussed and resolved.

“The child cabinet, is headed by the Prime Minister, who works in close co-ordination with the teachers and together we work for the betterment of the school. The idea behind the child cabinet is to enable the children to gain ideas, acquire leadership quality and inculcate values,”  Mahato affirms.

A student of the fourth standard, Prantik Mahato, who happens to be the Prime Minister of the cabinet says, “I am proud of my school. We participate in activities like drawing, painting, singing, dancing, cleaning the premises, gardening, and planting vegetables. Apart from that we discuss different problems and prospects of the school with the teachers and take concrete steps to sort out the matter as soon as possible.”

Pritam Mahato, Sports Minister of the cabinet adds, “I am glad that we can play games like football, volleyball, kabaddi, badminton, and tennis in our school. However, earlier we did not have a playground, so I took the initiative to bring the matter to the cabinet. After consulting with the Prime Minister and our teachers I am fortunate to have a playground now. Though, I will be going to a different school next year, still I will carry the treasure of multiple skills being taught in this school and try to practise the same things which I have gained here.”

The school follows a comprehensive method of engaging the children, parents and the society at large for its overall development. The “Mata Shiksha Committee”, constitutes the mothers of the students, with whom a meeting is organized every month to converse on the problems and development of the students. On the other hand, the “Student Safety and Security Monitoring Committee”, as the name itself suggests, looks after the safety and security of the students and churn out plans to improve the same. This committee consists of an ICDS member, three members of the village on behalf of the guardian of the students, one ASHA worker, the assistant teacher Rupali, and the headmaster as the chairman of the committee.

As apprised by the headmaster, the school committee along with other like minded people takes out rallies, organize seminars and create awareness among the masses on health issues like dengue, malaria and social issues like child marriage. People can also put forward their ideas for consideration in the boxes (Confidential Box and Suggestion Box) and discuss in the monthly meetings. Moreover, going to households, they encourage the people to send their children regularly to school, thereby reducing the percentage of dropouts.

After the reformation of the Gundlubari Primary School, Pratap Mahato, the headmaster, aspires to move to another area called Kula Bahal, Sobor Para, in Purulia District, which comprise of a tribal community known as the Sobor Community and plans to imbibe the values for better education of children and upliftment of society. He winds up by saying, “Though the school has been regarded as Nirmal Vidyalaya, but my aim is to convert the entire village into a Nirmal Village, because until and unless the society is not clean, how can we expect our children to be clean?”

Pursuant to the second edition of the media initiative undertaken by the South Asian Women In Media (SAWM) in collaboration with UNICEF India, a group of journalists visited the Gundlubari Primary School. The purpose of the visit was to explore the model school with WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) facilities, for which they were honoured with the Nirmal Vidyalaya Award.  

source: The Thumb Print

The South Asian Women in Media (SAWM), in collaboration with the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Initiative (WASH) by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), organized a conference on the theme of ‘Gender & Sanitation’ on October 31, 2018, at Hotel Royal Plaza in New Delhi. The conference was part of the second edition of the media initiative undertaken annually by SAWM, and saw participation by 14 women journalists, hailing from different regions and states across India. The conference provided the participants with a platform to voice their opinions on issues related to the confluence of gender and sanitation in India, interact with governmental and non-governmental experts working in the field of sanitation and general healthcare, and most importantly, share distinctive perspectives on the state of sanitation and related issues, as experienced differently across the country. The vital role played by UNICEF India in facilitating the participation of all the delegates present was appreciatively acknowledged at the very beginning, by Ms. Jyoti Malhotra, President, SAWM India.

The conference began with Mr. Nicolas Osbert, Chief of WASH, UNICEF India, making an instructive yet interactive presentation on understanding the correlation between sanitation related issues, and the impact they seem to have on the general wellbeing of children and women. Broadly, the four parameters highlighted in the presentation, to showcase the potential of sanitation as a tool of empowerment, were Health & Nutrition, Education, Socio-Economic Development, and Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). One of the gravest concerns emanating from the persistent lack of sanitation in any social milieu, is that of stunting, or a decelerated physiological growth of a child. Repeated transmission of infections by fecal contamination pathways that begin with eating infested food items, or eating without having properly washed one’s hands, damages the gut at an early age itself, causing eventual stunting.

One gram of human faeces may contain up to 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs. Once the infection has taken root in the system therefore, nutritional food notwithstanding, the overall growth in height, weight and other physical features becomes severely delayed, leading to negative consequences for mental faculties as well. Presently, a glaring 38% of children in India are experiencing stunted growth, due to lack of sanitation, and fecally transmitted infections during early childhood. At the same time, there is strong evidence supporting the claim that in India, proper sanitation can massively reduce the burden of fecally transmitted infections, diarrheal disease and stunting. Furthermore, in rural India, access to toilet facility is associated with a 16-39% reduced odds of stunting among children aged 0-23 months. The issue of open defecation or OD, therefore, provides another linkage between the lack of proper sanitation and deteriorating public health. As per official statistics, a glaring difference can be found in the number of open defecation cases in India until 2014, and after the Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Open defecation explains 54% of international variation in child height, while the GDP of a country may only be responsible for 29%.

In the presentation, Mr. Osbert cited recently published reports that claimed that 22% of the schools in India did not have appropriately segregated toilets for girls. Additionally, it was also believed to be the case that 58 % of preschools in India had no toilets at all, while 56 % of the preschools had no water on the premises. Understandably, the lack of basic toilet amenities in many such schools, coupled with a general lack of sanitation has had a troubling impact on the education outcomes in India, especially for girl children. Due to the unavailability of toilet facilities on school premises, a disturbingly high number of girls, especially in rural areas, have been found to miss school regularly. Moreover, in the case of a general lack of sanitation, stunting caused due to fecally transmitted infections such as diarrhea and worm infections, has majorly affected cognitive development and content retention abilities among children. Having said that, improvement in the supply of water, and toilet facilities, and other sanitation related issues at the age of 1, has been found to be associated with significantly higher language scores at age 5, serving as an important example of how proper sanitation can bring drastic change on the literacy front.

A study conducted by the World Bank in 2006 states that approximately 53.8 billion dollars are lost in India every year due to the negative impact of inadequate sanitation, on the socio-economic development of the population as a whole. In 2017, UNICEF too conducted a comprehensive study on the request of the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation Government of India, which found out that a household functioning in an open defecation free environment could save up to 50,000 rupees per year, due to medical costs averted for gastrointestinal diseases and the like. In other words, adequate sanitation can be understood as being directly proportional to the socio-economic wellbeing of a society, as money saved on the medical front means more to expend on improving the quality of life, and increasing individual productivity. It is therefore, extremely important to consider how the link between poor sanitation and hygiene most directly impacts women and children. Women, being the primary caregivers face significant insecurity due to the unavailability of toilets, among other reasons, which is a situational crisis that gives rise to a cyclical process affecting social economic development in India, and in countries where issues related to sanitation exist.

“If menstrual hygiene was something affecting men, we would have solved the issue 200 years ago, but because it affects women, we are still struggling with the issues of maintaining menstrual hygiene like making sanitary pads readily available to begin with”, said Kevin Rudd, the Former Prime Minister of Australia, during the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention, held in Delhi in September 2018. As mentioned by Mr. Osbert during the presentation, India has the largest adolescent population in the world at 25.3 crore, representing almost 20% of the world’s adolescent population, out of which 12 crore are adolescent girls. According to the findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) conducted in 2015, about 54% of adolescent girls in India were unaware of menstruation before they had their first period, 77% did not know the uterus was the source of the bleeding, only a mere 45% believed menstruation to be normal, a vast majority observed socio-cultural, religious or food taboos during menstruation, and only 57.6% of women used hygienic methods for menstrual protection.

A systematic review of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in India, undertaken jointly by UNICEF and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSTMH) in 2015 observed that 24% of adolescent girls did not attend school during menstruation, and only 37% changed their absorbents in school. These figures underscore the importance of responsive WASH infrastructure in schools to enable girls to manage their periods safely. Moreover, the review shed light on the fact that the provision of improved, gender segregated toilets led to increased retention of female teachers, as well as an increase in the number of girls appearing for exams, with higher pass rates.

Given the statistics above, it is imperative for the government to invest in a menstrual hygiene management (MHM) system that educates and empowers the common female populace, to take ownership of the process of menstruation, and adopt practices that provide them with a safeguard against diseases caused due to unhygienic menstrual protection methods. Relentless advocacy of menstrual hygiene as a governance objective by UNICEF led to the development and launch of the National Menstrual Hygiene Management Guidelines in 2015, to start operationalizing menstrual hygiene schemes in urban and rural areas alike. On the larger issue of sanitation, a recent World Bank report shows how the Swachh Bharat Campaign has contributed to women empowerment, not only in terms of providing a clear environment to live in, but also an opportunity to secure economic gains. As per the report, women comprise roughly 30-40% of all Swachhagrahis or sanitation foot soldiers, who have led the process of ‘triggering a behaviour change’ vis-à-vis better sanitation and hygiene.

Following the first session, was the presentation on Maternal and Child Health, by representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). It began with highlighting the progress made by India so far, in reducing maternal and child mortality rates, and surpassing the Millennium Development Goals oriented target for Maternal Mortality Rate reduction. It brought to attention the renewed focus of the Indian government apparatus, on sectors like nutrition, early childhood development, adolescent health, and how all these are being address through inter-sectoral linkages. The recently launched program called Anaemia Mukt Bharat for instance, has been built by developing linkages with other governmental departments such as that for Women and Child Development, and organizations such as UNICEF, that are working in concert to eliminate unhygienic practices leading to anaemia. Another significant intervention by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been in the form of Universal Health Coverage, or the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (National Health Protection Mission), which emphasizes the fact that primary healthcare is not only about providing basic healthcare, especially in rural areas, but also about preventing diseases, helping people make lifestyle changes by improving their surroundings, where WASH has a big role to play. Therefore, it is imperative to foster partnerships if one wants to accelerate the positive reductions made on the various health parameters mentioned above.

In keeping with the sense of partnership in formulating and implementing strategies for better sanitation and hygiene, the Government of India is hosting the Partner’s Forum in collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), in December 2018, in New Delhi. The Partner’s Forum is a multi-country, multi-stakeholder event, for sustaining the global momentum generated for issues related to women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health worldwide. The Forum is expected to achieve the three key objectives of securing greater consensus and alignment among PMNCH’s 1000+ partners and constituencies on strategies driving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; promoting the sharing of ideas and best practices to support action and accountability, and inter-sectoral collaboration across health related departments; and solidifying political commitment for the ‘Every Woman Every Child Movement’ (EWEC).

Bhasha Singh, senior journalist and author, spoke to the journalists about possible media perspectives in reporting gender and sanitation. She highlighted the plight of the manual scavengers. Not a single city in India is 100 percent connected to a sewerage system. Hence manual scavenging is still a necessity. Ongoing government survey has already found 58 thousand manual scavengers. Though manual scavenging was outlawed in 2013, and their rehabilitation made mandatory, very few benefits actually reach the community.

The participants shared their own experience of reporting on sanitation and/or gender stories. Issues like the ban on menstruating women from entering the Sabarimala temple, to toilets for tribal women in forest areas, all came up. Swati Bhattacharjee, General Secretary, SAWM India, told the participants about the deadlines and the logistics of the Media Initiative. It was consensually agreed upon that the private sector ought to play a bigger role to sustain sanitation gains, to continue the process of scaling up development on WASH related issues, and to integrate women in the operationalization of sanitation schemes.
Henceforth, the delegates were encouraged to conduct research at the grassroots level, in an effort to try and incorporate the voice of the most deprived and vulnerable sections of the population, into mainstream ideas on the most viable sanitation mechanisms to be adopted. On the whole, the conference provided the participants with an opportunity to interact with experts in the field of WASH, and collectively take stock of the status of sanitation in India, brainstorm ideas on how to increase accountability and monitoring of the implementation of government programs, and aggregation of data on gender inclusion in sanitation programming. The linkages between sanitation, hygiene and gender therefore, must be explored and more importantly studied in extensive detail, to be able to understand, and adequately respond to the challenges they present to the health and wellbeing of children and women in particular.

List of participants:
1. Anwesha Banerjee – Assistant Editor – Ei Somoy (West Bengal)
2. Pooja Singh – Senior Reporter – Prabhat Khabar (Jharkhand)
3. Sharmistha Bhonsale – freelancer (Maharashtra)
4. Archana Satpathy, Reporter – OTV (Orissa)
5. Mumeninaz Zaman freelancer (Assam)
6. Durba Ghosh – Senior Journalist – PTI (Assam)
7. Rashmi Drolia – Principal Correspondent – Times of India (Chhattisgarh)
8. Lavanya Natarajan – Reporter – News7 (Tamil nadu)
9. Rakhi Roy Talukdar – independent journalist (Rajasthan)
10. Soma Ghosh – Independent journalist (West Bengal)
11. Divya Goyal – Principal Correspondent – The Indian Express (Punjab)
12. Priyanka Tupe – Reporter – eSakal (Maharashtra)
13. Aishwarya Paliwal – Correspondent – Mirror Now (Delhi)
14. Priscilla Jebaraj – Deputy Editor – The Hindu (Delhi)

What could be the best place to go on Children’s Day? School, of course. And journalists who are participating in the SAWM Unicef Media Initiative, 2018, did exactly that. Today, along with Durba Ghosh (PTI, Guwahati) and Priyanka Tupe(Sakal, Pune), I visited two lower primary schools in Keotpara and Sajjanpur in Assam.

We met a bunch of boisterous children, full of life and energy. As we watched their assembly lines, physical training exercises, song-and-dance performances, it made me nostalgic for my school days. But these children are smarter. Most of them have already made up their minds on what they want to do in the future. To our surprise, this co-ed lower primary school has more girls than boys, and there’s no drop-out despite the economic distress their families face.

Our next stop was Sajjanpur Primary school. We found that the habit of hand-washing has improved their hygiene. Further, these children motivated their families to wash hands. How they influenced their parents to construct toilets at home came to us as an eyeopener on children’s role as change-makers. The students of this school mostly comprised of tribal kids from poverty-stricken families. Yet, no child has dropped out of school, and the founder president is proud of the fact. The school is situated in the arm of a hill. The scenic beauty is something to witness too. –  Anwesha Banerjee, Ei Somoy (Bengali Daily), Kolkata