IDBI Bank and UNICEF have entered into a partnership to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to 80,000 children in 400 schools and Anganwadi centres in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The Rs 2.7 crore partnership entered into by the bank is part of its corporate social responsibility programme. A UNICEF release said the programme will provide improved access to safe- drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for school-going children under the ‘Model WASH in Schools’ initiative in the two states. WASH stands for (drinking) water, sanitation and hygiene. Commenting on the initiative, M.S. Raghavan, CMD of the bank, said the bank has entered into this partnership with UNICEF and the government of India to support the vision of ensuring that the 110 million children enrolled in 1.4 million elementary schools across India have access to safe drinking water and functional toilets (and imbibe) hygienic practices with special emphasis on hand washing. He said that the initiative is also in keeping with the goals of the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, launched recently by the Centre, under which the bank is further supporting the construction of 300 gender-segregated toilets in schools across India, primarily in rural areas.
