New Delhi: Check the cooler. Look inside flower pots and trays. Inspect buckets, discarded containers and any other place where water may have collected. Mark the findings on a card and repeat the exercise every week.This is the “homework” Delhi schoolchildren are being given as the city steps up its fight against dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. Under the ‘dengue homework card’ initiative, students are given cards that they are expected to fill after checking their homes for potential mosquito-breeding sites. Teachers, in turn, have been told to monitor the exercise regularly and ensure that all rows and columns on the cards are duly filled.“The idea is to make the child an active participant rather than simply giving them an advisory on dengue. The card essentially becomes a weekly checklist. A student checks places at home where clean stagnant water can collect, records it and, with the family, ensures that breeding conditions are removed,” an education department official said. “Since the card comes back to school, teachers can also see whether the exercise is being carried out regularly.”The exercise is part of a renewed vector-borne disease prevention drive ordered by Directorate of Education (DoE). In a Sept 8 circular, DoE said it had received an advisory from Municipal Corporation of Delhi and directed all govt, govt-aided and private unaided recognised schools under it to implement the measures. The directions also reiterate its earlier instructions.The concept is not entirely new. Delhi govt earlier recommended training children to identify and eliminate mosquito-breeding sites at home, in neighbourhoods and schools. One such advisory had suggested that children could cover and monitor open water containers at home under adult supervision, while schools could use the homework cards to sustain the exercise beyond awareness sessions.The monsoon and post-monsoon months are a key transmission period for vector-borne diseases in Delhi, when water accumulating in containers and other sites can provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes. DoE, in previous years, too, intensified school-level precautions during this period, including weekly checks for stagnant water and awareness activities.The latest directions have also asked schools to encourage students to wear full-sleeved clothes or uniforms between Aug and Nov to reduce their exposure to mosquito bites. Schools have been asked to sensitise students and parents about the preventive measures.Principals or school heads have been made responsible for ensuring strict compliance with the directions on campus. At the administrative level, district and zonal officials have been asked to monitor implementation across schools under their jurisdiction and ensure that the preventive measures are being followed. A compliance report detailing the action taken by schools must be submitted by Sept 15.
