Water bell reintroduced in govt schools to promote hydration

Pic: Schoolchildren drink water after water bell ringed at Govt HP School in Chalamatti Hubballi: The school education and literacy dept has implemented the water bell order in all govt schools in Dharwad district to remind children to drink water, following the department's directive. The order was passed earlier but was not effectively implemented. In Jan, the dept again directed schools to implement water bell.
Around 850 govt schools used the bell sound to remind children to drink water. Following this, several organisations came forward to distribute water bottles to students.According to a source, the water bell was implemented a few years back but was not effectively implemented. After health experts suggested that drinking water is essential for the growth and health of children as it helped to regulate body temperature and digest food, a fresh order was issued to schools on Jan 14. Students were told to drink water when the water bell rang. The bell is sounded at 10.30am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm.All govt, aided and unaided schools, including LKG and UKG, in the state are hereby directed to implement the rule of ringing the water bell to remind children to drink water frequently.SM Hudedamani, deputy project coordinator of Rashtriya Mashyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, told TOI that the school education department recently issued a circular to implement this system in schools. "Children should drink water for health and growth. Children are engaged in play and practice activities at school. This system was made to remind them to drink water. "We instructed all schools, and accordingly schools are reminding through bells," he said.Hudedamani said that some organisations, including the Lions Club, distributed water bottles at no cost to the children and made them bring water bottles regularly to schools. "We instructed the block resource person (BRP) and cluster resource person (CRP) to monitor the implementation of the water bell," he said.DDPI Shanamuk Swamy Keladimath said that drinking water is just as important as food for a healthy life. Therefore, children should drink a fixed amount of water every day for their health and development. However, children do not have proper awareness about drinking water. Therefore, in order to remind children to drink water regularly during the school period, water bells are ringing every 2 hours in all govt schools in Dharwad district.Maruthi Bhajantri, incharge headmaster, Govt HPS, Chalamatti, said that there are 147 students (grades 1 to 8) in the school. The Lions Club of Hubballi city provided free bottles to all the students of the school. There is a drinking water facility in the school. "It is sunny now. If children drink water frequently, they will be cheerful. They will take interest in activities. Their health will be good. This system was implemented on the instructions of the higher officials," he said.