 UN-HABITAT has launched a water education programme at schools in the Indian cities of Indore and Gwalior as part of a new drive to promote water conservation and hygiene under the agency’s Water for Asian Cities Programme. UN-HABITAT is currently establishing similar classrooms elsewhere in India, as well as China, Nepal and Laos. Known as the Human Values Based Water, Sanitation Hygiene programme, it was introduced earlier this month in classrooms at the School of Excellence, Bal Vinay Mandir, in Indore and at Padma Raje Government Girls Higher Secondary School, in Gwalior. A similar programme is running in African schools under the Water for African Cities Programme. The water curriculum developed by UN-HABITAT and Government of Madhya Pradesh, is aimed at teaching children about water conservation, how to avoid pollution, water-borne diseases and to treat water as a valuable resource. Meanwhile a UN-HABITAT team comprising delegates from China, Vietnam, Kenya and Nepal earlier this month reviewed the multi-million dollar Water for Asian Cities project in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur. The project, backed by the Asian Development Bank, aims at improving water supplies and sanitation services to the urban poor as well as securing and managing pro-poor investments. Officials at UN-HABITAT said a report of the review would soon be released. |
