Mirzapur school buildings that bring behavioural changes

MIRZAPUR/LUCKNOW: With messages of Swachhta on the walls of their buildings, many schools in UP have created ripples of behaviour change, an important goal under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The force behind this is a concept called 'Building as a Learning Aid (BaLA)', aimed at developing child-friendly schools. Developed by a Delhi-based consultancy, BaLA is being used by different state governments under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan to make government schools attractive to children so that they do not drop out.The concept envisages using every possible part of the school to create an enabling and learning atmosphere for children by using walls, corners, ramps and boards.
In Mirzapur, which took the lead by launching Vidyalaya Kayakalp Maha Abhiyaan in 2016, the administration tweaked BaLA to integrate behaviour change messages of Swachh Bharat Mission. The campaign has covered 1,127 of 2,210 schools till now.
What makes the effort unique are the messages. For example, with an explicit picture of a man defecating in a field, right next to a snake, a message on the wall of a primary school in Ramchandrapur reads ' Shriman khatron ke khiladi, chalo shauchalaya... chordo jhaadi'.
Another message says, ' Yadi koi mujhe chahe chhoona, ya phir karna pyaar, maa tum dekhe rehna, woh sabun se dhoye haath baar baar', making it clear that it is important to wash hands with soap before touching babies. Now, the department has decided to replicate the model as 'Operation Kayakalp' in all districts of UP. The project has already taken off in 40 districts.
Kumar Bikram, an officer from UNICEF, which supported the campaign, said, "The loop of learning and behaviour change usually begins with teachers and goes on to children who take the message to their families and then to community. Data shows that changes triggered by children are sustainable."
District project officer for Swachh Bharat Mission Vinod Srivastava said, "Over the past two years, I have seen both short and long-term benefits of the movement. The re-doing of schools made them attractive for children. This raised enrolment rate besides decreasing drop-outs. Happy that children like their schools, parents started checking misuse of the premises," he said.