Mrs Chizoma Opara, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, has called for the reinstatement of hygiene and nature studies in schools, to tackle open defecation.
Opara, who is also the National Coordinator, Clean Nigeria Campaign, made the call on the sideline of the just concluded two-day media dialogue on Ending Open Defecation (OD) in Nigeria and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), held in Lagos.
She said that nature studies would guide the children and save them from getting exposed to acts that might make them get infected with diseases such as onchocerciasis (river blindness), among others diseases.
Chizoma said that the studies had become necessary, as it would go a long way to catch the children young.
According to her, the campaign is looking at a situation where the subject will be instilled in the curriculum.
“We really need to lay a lot of emphasis on cleanliness and then we need to do more of child engagement on hygiene and sanitation issue, just to see that the child forms the habit from young age.
“I had to take a flash back to our school days as children, when we had subjects called hygiene and nature study, which guided in living healthy.
“This includes ensuring that our hands are washed always, and over time, it became part of the system and you cannot eat or finish playing without having to wash hands.
“It is something that can be revived and incorporated into school system and they will grow with that, which is the catch them young measure.
“We have a steering committee which is headed by the Vice President, and Federal Ministry of Education is part of the committee.
“The MDAs, Health, Education, Environment and Humanitarian, they are all members that also have a mandate of supporting each other to end OD in Nigeria,” she said.
The coordinator described OD as a sanitation and hygiene-related issues, which is a significant contributor to NTDs, which could be controlled. (NAN)
