“Inculcate the importance of cleanliness in children at an early age” says Shashi Tharoor at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival

~ Dettol Banega Swachh India joins the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival as its first Cause Partner

Mumbai, January 25, 2016: At a recent session presented by “Dettol Banega Swachh India”, Cause Partner at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, Shashi Tharoor emphasised on the importance of reaching out to children for the success of Swachh Bharat initiative. During the session Swachh Bharat: The Indian Story, moderated by social activist Sanchaita Gajapati Raju Mr. Tharoor was joined by author & journalist Desraj Kali and Anustup Nayak, entrepreneur & Founder of XSEED Education to discuss how to script and catalyse health, well-being and social growth.

Dettol Banega Swachh India, in its 2nd year has been focusing on devising & implementing ‘behavior change communication models’. For this, a 45-lesson hygiene curriculum & teacher-training module has been developed by Dettol in partnership with XSEED and Butterfly EduFields in 4 languages – Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu. In the first year, this curriculum will be used in 10,000 schools across the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu and aims to educate 2.5 million children.

Appreciating the work done towards developing the curriculum, Mr. Shashi Tharoor said “The work that the organisation is doing, is already a very valuable beginning. Inculcate the importance of cleanliness in children at an early age, it equally inculcates in them a sense of respect for the cleanliness of others outside their immediate own environment. That civic consciousness may take a generation to breed but it has to be done. The mentality of the people must be changed and it must be done at a local level.”

Nitish Kapoor, Regional Director – RB South Asia said “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan has united the country behind a key national health priority and seen tremendous enthusiasm for better hygiene and sanitation. Dettol Banega Swachh India has supported this cause with two key behaviour change programs – a comprehensive 45 lesson hygiene & sanitation curriculum for schools, and a local community led intervention to make villages Open Defecation Free. These programs have commenced in 10,000 schools and 200 villages and we hope to take them wider in collaboration with the central and state governments, and other partners. We believe that JLF provides a great platform for eminent figures from the literary world to spark discussion & action in support of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, and inspire more people to focus on hygiene and sanitation for good health. Dettol Banega Swachh India is proud to associate with JLF as the official Cause Partner.”