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Tamil Nadu News Papers

Coimbatore Corporation to focus on hygiene in schools

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Source : The Hindu Date : 20.06.2009

Coimbatore Corporation to focus on hygiene in schools

K.V. Prasad

COIMBATORE: Apart from focussing on improving the quality of education, the Coimbatore Corporation has drawn up measures to ensure health and hygiene among the students in its schools.

Teaching personal hygiene and clean toilet habits and also conducting periodical dental, eye and general health camps are among the many measures the Corporation is planning to carry out from this academic year.

The main focus is on all the 45 primary schools where the approach of teaching them while young is to be adopted.

Besides, 12 middle schools that have primary sections will also be covered.

“Three urban health nurses are to be posted in each of these schools to monitor the children and teach them clean habits,” says Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra.

“The health nurses are a good resource not being used properly. This programme will use their potential,” he says.

“They will provide health and basic hygiene education to the students.”

Orientation for the nurses began on Thursday with sessions on accessing information through computers.

The Corporation will conduct basic health check-up camps in each of these schools to identify children with general health problems.

Specific problems will be identified through eye and dental camps. Mobile dental clinics may carry out check-up and scaling.

All these constitute primary health care for students in their schools, the Commissioner explains.

The schools will also have user-friendly toilets and the children will be taught how to use these.

The Commissioner points out that most of the children come from very poor families.

They need to be told of the consequences of open defecation and urination.

Large images of bacteria and viruses will be displayed in the schools in order to warn the children of the risks from unclean habits.

“We need to tell them about some basic things relating to healthy food and practices,” the Commissioner says.

All the Corporation schools will have dining halls and plates will be provided to students.

Last Updated on Saturday, 20 June 2009 06:47
 

Rally to caution people on malaria, dengue

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Source :The Hindu Date : 19.06.2009

Rally to caution people on malaria, dengue

Special Correspondent

Over 500 people take part, including 300 SHG members

Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

STRESSING PREVENTION: Mayor R. Venkatachalam (second right) leads a rally of the Coimbatore Corporation to spread awareness on malaria in the city on Thursday. —

COIMBATORE: Doctors, health department employees and workers of the Coimbatore Corporation took out a rally in the city on Thursday to caution the public on malaria and dengue.

Led by Mayor R. Venkatachalam, Deputy Mayor N. Karthik, Deputy Commissioner V. Shanta, Health Department Chairman P. Nachimuthu and Assistant City Health Officer R. Sumathi, the participants of the rally raised slogans that sought to warn the people against creating conditions such as rain water stagnation and unsafe storage of drinking water that enabled mosquitoes to breed.

Dr. Sumathi said that about 500 people took part in the rally, including 300 members from self-help groups.

Health hazards

Using a public address system, the Corporation staff listed the unsafe practices that led to the breeding of mosquitoes which carried the virus that caused dengue.

Explaining how these practices posed serious health hazards, the Mayor and officials urged the people to eliminate conditions that served as ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

The Corporation said it would continue organising such awareness programmes as the number of cases of various diseases was on the rise during monsoon.

With the South West Monsoon revival expected soon, the Corporation wanted to ensure that the city was diseases-free, officials said.

Last Updated on Friday, 19 June 2009 05:39
 

Loan disbursement target fixed at Rs.1.2 crore

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Source : The Hindu Date : 19.06.2009

Loan disbursement target fixed at Rs.1.2 crore

Special Correspondent

For economic loans to minority people in Vellore district through TAMCO during 2009-10

— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

Xavier Arulraj, chairman of the Tamil Nadu Minorities Economic Development Corporation (left), speaking to reporters at the Collectorate in Vellore on Thursday. Vellore Collector C. Rajendran is in the picture.

VELLORE: A target of Rs.1.20 crore has been fixed by the State government for economic loans to beneficiaries belonging to minority communities in Vellore district through the Tamil Nadu Minorities Economic Development Corporation (TAMCO) during 2009-10, according to its chairman Xavier Arulraj.

He was talking to newspersons after discussing schemes of TAMCO at a meeting with prominent members of the minority communities at the Collectorate here on Thursday.

Fr. Arulraj said that the government has enhanced the maximum individual loan to be given to a member of a woman self-help group (SHG) comprising women belonging to minority communities from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 25,000, and the maximum group loan for which the groups are eligible from Rs. two lakh to Rs. five lakh.

While loans to the tune of Rs.22 crore were disbursed to minority communities since 1999, when the corporation was established, loans to the tune of Rs.36.95 crore were given in the last two years alone. Pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships to the tune of Rs.14.07 crore were given to 36,774 minority community students in 2008-09. Vocational training including training in computer applications was imparted to 8,000 candidates last year, against a target of 5,000, and 60 per cent of the trainees had secured jobs.

Fr. Arulraj said that Muslim Women’s Welfare Societies have been formed in all the districts, with seed money of Rs. one lakh each on the orders of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. If funds could be mobilised through philanthropists for the society, the government would provide a matching grant to the society. The interest accruing from the funds so created should be utilised for providing subsistence allowance to financially weaker Muslim women.

Earlier, addressing prominent members of minority communities, Fr. Arulraj said Mr. Karunanidhi has ordered the construction of separate hostels for Muslim girl students in all districts. One such hostel has been set up in Vellore.

In response to a complaint from Firdoz, a minority community representative from Ambur that matching grant has not so far been given to a Muslim Women’s Welfare Society set up in Ambur, Fr. Arulraj said that if the society concerned sends the proposal, TAMCO would immediately release the matching grant to the society.

“There is no problem in releasing matching grants”, he said.

Nissar Ahmed of Vaniyambadi and Eugini Fatima Mary, Principal of Auxilium College, Vellore, wanted the TAMCO to popularise welfare schemes implemented by the Corporation through awareness programmes and distribution of leaflets among members of minority communities as many were not aware of them.

C. Rajendran, Collector of Vellore, said that the Union government was planning to set up an Industrial Training Institute exclusively for the minorities in Vellore district.

Earlier, Fr. Arulraj distributed pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships to students of Auxilium Girls Higher Secondary School, Gandhinagar, Vellore, Government Higher Secondary School, Sathuvachari, and Marudhar Kesari Jain College for Women, Vaniyambadi

Last Updated on Friday, 19 June 2009 05:35
 


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