‘Global hand-washing day’ - Poster competition winners rewarded |28 October 2015
Winners of a poster competition to mark this year’s ‘Global Hand-washing Day’ have received their prizes.
The competition, which was open to all primary and secondary students of both private and public schools, was organised by the ministries of health and education to raise awareness of the importance of hand washing in schools and in the workplace.
The Global Hand-washing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing consciousness and understanding about the importance of hand washing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.
Manned by the staff of the ministries of health and of education, the competition was divided into three categories: P1-P3; P4-P6 and S1-S5, with prizes awarded to the top three in each category.
The winners were rewarded in a small ceremony yesterday at the Bel Eau primary school in the presence of the deputy chief executive of the Health Care Agency Dr Danny Louange, the director of the schools division Cyril Pillay, the head teacher of Bel Eau primary school Susan Charles, sponsors, students, parents and teachers.
In the P1-P3 category first place went to Keesha Adelaide (P3) from Anse Etoile school, followed in second and third places by Alexandra Joseph (P2) and Alyssa Charlette (P2) from Independent School respectively.
In the P4-P6 category Deogracia Ndala (P5) from Anse Etoile school came out first followed in second place by Lynsha Annette (P5) from La Misère school and Rya Toussaint (P4) in third place.
In the secondary category first place went to Jovan Hoareau (S2) from Beau Vallon school, second place to Damien Ernesta (S2) from Beau Vallon and third place to Louissa Payet (S1) from Independent School.
The prizes were given out by Olivia Delpech from Cable and Wireless Seychelles, Bernard Jackson from the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) and Georges Romain.
Dr Danny Louange stated that this campaign is very important not only for the children but also for adults.
“From this campaign students will be able to learn something that they will share with other children and even with their parents, on the proper way to wash hands,” he said.
He added that the aim of the competition is to make people aware that it is vital to have good hygiene.
“We at the Ministry of Health want to make people aware that it is critical to have good sanitation at home, at school or at work. For that to be possible we need a private-public partnership, where we can get sponsors, the community and companies to contribute to the development of health care in the community,” stated Dr Louange.
He pointed out that the children’s work were of such high quality that is was very difficult to choose a winner.
“It was very difficult to choose a winner for the poster competition; the children are so talented and original. There were about 135 posters but we had to choose those who represented what we wanted to highlight,” he said.
In efforts to have healthier school environments, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Health has developed strategies aimed at promoting hygiene and sanitation in the schools. These strategies are part of a hygiene and sanitation campaign which will start early next year with the aim of improving access to proper and adequate sanitary facilities for students and staff and reinforcing hygiene education in the school.
The first Global Hand-washing Day was held in 2008 when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries. Since 2008, community and national leaders have used Global Hand- washing Day to spread the word about hand washing. Each year over 200 million people are involved in celebrations in over 100 countries around the world.