School management panels in Amritsar told to ensure safe drinking water

The district Education Department has now asked the school management committees to form teams to inspect and assess drinking water and counter measures to tackle water-borne diseases to ensure safety and review civic amenities in schools.

District Education Officer (Elementary) Kanwaljit Singh had earlier issued a letter to school heads as a precautionary exercise to fix responsibility for any lapse regarding safety and hygiene in schools and kitchens while preparing mid-day meals during the monsoon.

After DC Sakshi Sawhney had conducted review meetings in May and issued letters to schools to ensure that water inspections and audits were conducted to ensure safe and clean drinking water, member of Food Commission, Punjab, had also conducted a surprise inspection of government schools and reviewed the mid-day meal cooking and drinking water facilities.

While the DC has asked the officials to ensure that ROs and water filters are installed in schools due to high total dissolved solids (TDS) or possible contamination of groundwater, several schools are yet to get them installed. Government schools on the periphery of Gumtala, Fatehgarh Churian and Bal Kalan have reported the TDS levels in some areas were exceeding the WHO limit of 1,000 mg/L, with high pH levels, resulting in an unpleasant taste.

This was also reported in a recent inspection by a member of the Food Commission a few weeks back. Last year, the government school at Fatehgarh Churian too had reported a problem of depending on municipal corporation supply or groundwater for drinking and cooking purposes.

Additionally, the Civil Surgeon, Dr Kirandeep Kaur, has also launched an anti-dengue and chikungunya campaign in schools and medical check-up camps are being organised in all government schools regularly. She said that physical check-up of children was being ensured by training schoolteachers through the School Health Wellness Programme.