December 1, 2022
By Water & Sanitation team
Following World Toilet Day declared on November 19 by the United Nations, Keystone’s Water and Sanitation team began to brainstorm ways to integrate a practical awareness of water among young children. Water is a vast subject that encompasses countless elements: our relationship with water, how our perishable water bodies function, understanding pollution, its causes and impacts, and so much more – especially in a climate-vulnerable region like the Nilgiris hills.
The team began putting together a ‘Water Exhibition’ and sent out invites to all schools in the Nilgiris district to showcase their best, most innovative work in water conservation, specifically in household water treatment. On November 30, students from seven schools spilled into our campus in Kotagiri: CSI Secondary School, Alpha GK Matriculation School, PMHS Matriculation School, ICS International School, St. Mary’s High School, Illem Thedi Tuition Centre and St. Anthony’s Middle School. We received the most creative submissions from 57 groups! Vinitha Murukesan, our programme coordinator, addressed the students, speaking about the importance of understanding water and how we use it, and applying our knowledge to practical experiments to deepen our learnings.
The judging process was the hardest part of the day – it took the team six hours to choose the three winnings groups from two categories (classes 6-8 and classes 9-12). The models created by the children spoke volumes of their interest and research skills in understanding practical applications of water use and conservation.
