With an aim to reduce the health hazards caused by chalk dust, ‘Operation Whiteboard’- a campaign that assures freedom from chalk- has been launched in the State capital by Ranchi based organisation called Motive8.
Director Secondary Education Jharkhand Dr Jatashankar Choudhary officially inaugurated the campaign on January 18. “The project aims to work in the best interest of the health of students and teachers. While chalk dust is too harmful for eyes, skin and the respiratory system, disposing of the same in soil also leads to soil erosion. Private as well as Government schools have development funds which can be utilised to implement this project as it is very economical and the institutions do not require any special funds for it,” said Choudhary.
Implemented across the City’s schools in August 2020, the organisation has replaced blackboards with whiteboards in 115 classrooms in over 20 schools. The organisations aims to cover 100 schools in each of the 24 districts by March 2022.
The residue coming out of chalk dust results in respiratory diseases and skin and eye infections. While the blackboards are being replaced with blackboards, chalk is being substituted with reusable markers of various colours like red,blue, black and green.
“In a lot of schools, the development fund is used for plaster repair annually. With this project the funds can be utilised in a more productive way. Use of reusable markers will help in reducing the cost as well as lead to reduction in waste accumulation as the institution will only have to get ink. The use of whiteboards will provide the beneficiaries with a dust free ecosystem,” said Motive8 Project Manager Samarth Mishra.
Mishra further stated that in the coming years the organisations also plans to take this initiative to other states as well.
Motive8 Services currently works in areas related to health, education, nutrition and agriculture with sustainable development goals. In May 2020, the organisation also launched the Men 4 Menstruation campaign with an aim to bust taboos and create menstrual awareness amongst the rural and urban masses with a motto that ‘Menstruation is not just a women’s thing but a man’s responsibility too’.
