The Story of Change — GHS Begur, Hubli Dharwad
We have raised our fears and concerns time and again on the poor sanitation facilities in the public spaces in our country, the government has acted upon it by building toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission. But is that enough?
The underlying problem of sanitation is not in the number of toilets but it is the experience that is comprised from lack of privacy to dirty water in toilets and water tanks etc. As a citizen, we feel it is the experience that needs to be improved and for that, we have to move from a place of shared concern, frustration, and fear to a place of engaged citizen action. That’s how we will be able to influence the real change and translate it into safe sanitation for all.
Recently, our Solve Ninjas from GHS Begur, Hubli Dharwad have started their journey of ensuring safe sanitation at their school campus.
In their school due to lack of proper sanitation facilities and access to clean drinking water forced the students to use outside facilities which were often not hygienic, thus, posing an imminent risk to their health.
As part of our engagement, students realized that it is the experience they are lacking, not the facilities. So the students decided to take the ownership of the space and they first began with the girl’s toilet where the door was broken.
Even the pans were clogged with dry leaves and stones, students cleaned the toilet, placed cleaning equipment along with mugs and buckets for use.
Next, they observed the water coming from the water tank was dirty and the tank was also leaking water in their school ground. So the students split into teams where boys set to clean the tank and the girls worked to fix the leakage of the water tank.
Solve Ninjas along with our Mentor Ninjas also did a spot-fixing at the school ground by making their campus free of waste on the observation of bits of paper and plastic lying there.
How did they do it?
The students were driven by the idea of bringing the change in their school, especially for their peers so that they don’t undergo the same health issues and ensuring it is a safe healthy space for all. Solve Ninjas were committed to working together till the problem is solved and left the bias of perfecting the individual daily choices. They prioritized the problem they want to solve first and refined their approach to solving it. When all of this is combined, a perfect recipe for the change is created.
What are their next steps?
Solve Ninjas have already identified the problem of need of a water filter for drinking purposes along with clean urinals for the boys. They would also like to work on the water leakages in the common handwash area along with water stagnation problem near to girls cleaning area. Currently, they are raising funds and working on to build a low-cost sustainable solution with apt research.
This story of change from Hubli has been phenomenal and reaffirms our faith in our movement of building civic muscle among the youth to solve problems in their local communities. It’s not simple, and it is certainly not easy. But when such inspirational stories come forward, the vision of action based champions in every neighborhood can be translated into the kind of change we know is possible.
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