ICT college hygiene: an ongoing challenge

Poor hygiene exposes students of educational institutions to various ailments

ISLAMABAD:

Despite several initiatives to ensure a healthy environment at the Islamabad Capital Territory educational institutions, better hygiene remains a challenge exposing students to different kinds of ailments.

Although the oral hygiene programme, provision of hygiene kits and steps like ensuring the cleanliness of premises and toilets, clean drinking water and overall tidy environment were already under way, there are still challenges like paucity of funds and staff.

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“Given the size of our educational institutions, it is often a challenging task for custodial staff to manage cleaning and maintenance tasks alone,” said Riffat Jabeen, Director of Academics, Federal Directorate of Education (FDE). “Commonly, students litter the premises by throwing waste here and there even in the presence of waste bin,” she remarked.

Oral hygiene programme

Keeping in view the importance of hygiene facilities, the federal government has started the “Oral Hygiene Programme” at 423 public sector schools and colleges under the FDE.

Under this programme, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training distributes ‘Hygiene Kits’ among students of within the ICT jurisdiction.

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In many cases, there is also a deficiency of bathrooms as compared to the number of students with many needing immediate repair and up-gradation as FDE Director Monitoring Malik Sohail assured to bridge this gap and claimed these facilities would be provided sooner. Contrary to his claims, the Federal Government Teachers Association President Malik Ameer Ahmed Khan pointed out the shortage of sanitary staff at several institutions. “There is a shortage of staff at some schools and a requisition has been forwarded for more sweepers and sanitary workers,” he said.

Similarly, in numerous cases either the washrooms were worn out with broken tiles and flour or the lethargic response of sanitary staff, left these washrooms dirty and stuffy. Keeping the playgrounds and flower beds tidy with frequent trimming is another issue especially in institutions in remote areas of the ICT as the focus remains on main institutions situated in the heart of the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2023.