‘Water Bells’ introduced in schools of Odisha’s Ganjam

Berhampur: In a bid to ensure adequate drinking of water by school students, ‘Water Bells’ initiative was today introduced in all schools of Odisha’s Ganjam district.

Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange launched the programme at the V V Giri Government Girls’ High School here. Other senior district administration officials distributed water bottles among the students on the occasion and made them aware about the benefits of drinking water.

Authorities of all schools and anganwadis in the district have been instructed to ring three ‘water bells’ everyday to remind students of drinking water. The water bells will be rung at 11.40 am, 1.30 pm and 3.15 pm from Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays, the bells would be rung at 8 am, 9.30 am and 10.50 am.

Each break will last for five minutes and it will be compulsory for every student to drink water during that period. The collector said the initiative aims at making drinking of water a habit among children to ensure that they stay hydrated.

Ganjam District Education Officer (DEO) Sanatan Panda said most of the children carry water bottles to the schools. Those who do not have bottles can drink water from the institutes’ facilities, he said. The DEO said the collector is mooting to provide the children with water bottles, that are not made of single-use plastic, under the ‘Mo School’ (My school) initiative. However, that may take some time, he said.

Panda said despite repeated reminders of the teachers, it was found that students, especially girls, were not drinking adequate quantity of water to avoid frequent visits to the toilets.