MUMBAI: Reckitt Benckiser has taken a milestone leap in the direction of driving a transformational change on sanitation and hygiene by launching its ‘Dettol Banega Swachh India Handwash Digital Curriculum’, in collaboration with the All India Imam Organization.
The event was graced by All India Imam Organization chief imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi and also saw presence of other dignitaries including India Islamic Centre chairman Sirajuddin Qureshi.
RB Health India senior vice president, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia (AMESA) Gaurav Jain said, “We are proud at the way Dettol BSI has created a deep impact on the hygiene and sanitation habits of people across India, by driving behavior change in the last four years. Now in its fifth year, we are focusing on driving behavior change through collective community efforts. Consequently, we will execute this campaign in a phased manner to sensitise about 6 crore children in over 5,50,000 madrasas in India, over a period of five years. I strongly believe that this effort would help boost the movement we have gathered to reach the desired goal of overall cleanliness and health.”
Commenting on the development, Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, said, “I am overjoyed to share the news of the partnership between the All India Imam Organization and Dettol Banega Swachh India. As part of this first-of-its-kind partnership, we would include the Dettol BSI Handwash Digital Curriculum in the entire educational syllabus across all the madrasas in India. We will take this initiative to other countries in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and, eventually, turn it into a global program. Children are the change-agents of the society, and this step is going to ensure that we inspire these young minds to inculcate the learning into a habit, through engaging multi-media tools and activities such as animated videos, which would turn them into influencers for others, and nation-builders of tomorrow.”
As part of the campaign activations, Dettol BSI plans to expand its hygiene and sanitation curriculum to sensitise about 6 crore children in over 5,50,000 madrasas, over a period of five years, across multiple states in India. Additionally, appropriate efforts will also be made towards increased training and capacity building among teachers at madrasas to ensure effectiveness of the curriculum.
The campaign will be focused on helping children build healthy habits, focusing on cleanliness, from early childhood. This will be done through videos and multiple activities and tools that will be both fun and engaging. The curriculum would focus on highlighting the importance of good hand washing practices, benefits of regular hand washing in preventing the spread of diseases and improving the overall health of growing children.
