Seasonal disease: School kids, teachers to raise dengue awareness

Will distribute 20m pamphlets on dengue.

LAHORE: Students and teachers from public schools will be heavily involved in a campaign to raise awareness about the dengue virus and how to prevent it, said School Education Secretary Muhammad Aslam Kamboh on Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of students and teachers will help distribute 20 million pamphlets on the dengue virus, and material about the disease and other illnesses will be included in school textbooks, the secretary told a seminar titled ‘Awareness Campaign Regarding Dengue Virus’.

He said that students and teachers from private schools would also be asked to participate. “The Education and Health Departments will work together to raise awareness,” he said.

Kamboh said that he was satisfied that public schools were complying with instructions on cleanliness and insecticide spray in school buildings, but was unhappy with the performance of private schools.

He said compulsory questions about dengue would be included in school annual exams and textbooks for the new year would include special lessons on the disease. He said special walks to raise awareness would be arranged in all cities of the province.

Rehana Anwar, the gender group coordinator for school education, spoke on the occasion about what women could do to help eradicate the disease.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2012.