By MASEMBE TAMBWE recently in Darbhanga, Bihar State
STUDENTS from all corners of the globe including Tanzania who want to solve the sanitation problems of the day will now have better opportunities to do so thanks to the acceptance of the sociology of sanitation as a sub-discipline of sociology by a number of Indian tertiary institutions.
In recent years, the importance of sanitation in countries like Tanzania has been more pronounced where in 2012, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare started implementing a pilot project in three districts of Dodoma with funding from the Global Sanitation Fund as well as launching a national campaign
Renowned international sanitation guru and the propagator of the teaching of the sociology of sanitation, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak told Wash Fair that already a university in Bhavnagar in Gujarat has introduced this subject as a part of sociology course at graduate level and others are sure to follow.
“When I started advocating for the inclusion of this subject into sociology in 1985, back then I received a lot of resistance from experts saying that first it was impossible to teach it and later that was no curriculum and manuals, these hurdles have now been overcome,” he explained.
The sociology of sanitation is a scientific study to solve society's problems in relation to sanitation, social deprivation, water, public health, hygiene, ecology, environment, poverty, gender equality, welfare of children and empowering people for sustainable development.
Dr Pathak said that 30 years down the road, seven
teaching manuals have been published and several others are in their final
stages of publication. He said that the inclusion of the subject means that more
employment opportunities will be made to those who choose to take up the
subject.
Sinha Institute of Social Studies in Patna, Bihar State in India specialist in political and rural sociology, Prof Nil Ratan who contributed to the writing of the manuals said that the subject will have 100 marks out of 600 and will have five units on the introduction, relation between social institute and sanitation, environment and sanitation, society and sanitation and on the Sulabh movement in India.
“The Sulabh movement in India has been added because of the immense achievements that this NGO has made to India but also it is something that other nations with similar sanitation challenges can emulate. The two pit latrine technology is not patented and can be adopted in these places,” he explained.
During a recent workshop held in Darbhanga district of
Bihar State at the L N Mithila University, the Vice chancellor Prof Saket
Kushwaha said the university is taking steps to include sanitation as a subject
in the next academic session.
In 2013 a national conference on sociology of sanitation was organised in Delhi where sociologists from around the country proposed that the new sub-discipline should be implemented at the theoretical, empirical and action level.
The conference recommended that the primary objective of the discipline was to achieve total elimination of open defecation (easing oneself in the open and not in toilets) and empowering of disadvantaged communities.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr Pankaj Jain said during the closing of the conference that NGOs of the calibre of Sulabh International were needed to be in the forefront of promotion of sanitation.
Mr Jain said that it gravely saddened him that India was rapidly inching towards becoming a superpower with the highest levels of technological advancements, some of the best doctors yet it accounted for over 60 per cent of the global population that defecate in the open.
STUDENTS from all corners of the globe including Tanzania who want to solve the sanitation problems of the day will now have better opportunities to do so thanks to the acceptance of the sociology of sanitation as a sub-discipline of sociology by a number of Indian tertiary institutions.
 |
| More employment opportunities for the youth |
In recent years, the importance of sanitation in countries like Tanzania has been more pronounced where in 2012, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare started implementing a pilot project in three districts of Dodoma with funding from the Global Sanitation Fund as well as launching a national campaign
Renowned international sanitation guru and the propagator of the teaching of the sociology of sanitation, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak told Wash Fair that already a university in Bhavnagar in Gujarat has introduced this subject as a part of sociology course at graduate level and others are sure to follow.
“When I started advocating for the inclusion of this subject into sociology in 1985, back then I received a lot of resistance from experts saying that first it was impossible to teach it and later that was no curriculum and manuals, these hurdles have now been overcome,” he explained.
The sociology of sanitation is a scientific study to solve society's problems in relation to sanitation, social deprivation, water, public health, hygiene, ecology, environment, poverty, gender equality, welfare of children and empowering people for sustainable development.
 |
| Dr Bindeshwar Pathak (center) traditionally being received by his host, the L.N. Mithila University Vice Chancellor, Prof Saket Kushwaha and his wife at their home in Darbhanga district, Bihar State |
Sinha Institute of Social Studies in Patna, Bihar State in India specialist in political and rural sociology, Prof Nil Ratan who contributed to the writing of the manuals said that the subject will have 100 marks out of 600 and will have five units on the introduction, relation between social institute and sanitation, environment and sanitation, society and sanitation and on the Sulabh movement in India.
“The Sulabh movement in India has been added because of the immense achievements that this NGO has made to India but also it is something that other nations with similar sanitation challenges can emulate. The two pit latrine technology is not patented and can be adopted in these places,” he explained.
 |
| Maharaja Kameshwar Singh Palace Darbhangan |
In 2013 a national conference on sociology of sanitation was organised in Delhi where sociologists from around the country proposed that the new sub-discipline should be implemented at the theoretical, empirical and action level.
The conference recommended that the primary objective of the discipline was to achieve total elimination of open defecation (easing oneself in the open and not in toilets) and empowering of disadvantaged communities.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr Pankaj Jain said during the closing of the conference that NGOs of the calibre of Sulabh International were needed to be in the forefront of promotion of sanitation.
Mr Jain said that it gravely saddened him that India was rapidly inching towards becoming a superpower with the highest levels of technological advancements, some of the best doctors yet it accounted for over 60 per cent of the global population that defecate in the open.
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