New Delhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday took a class on dengue for children in the city government schools explaining them the risks of the disease and how to prevent it.
While Kejriwal took the class at the Veer Savarkar Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Kalkaji, the session was streamed live across all government schools and several private schools across the city.
Children assured him that they will inspect their houses and will also make their neighbours aware about inspecting their houses for any signs of mosquito breeding to make Delhi Dengue free.
“I have come today as a teacher, not as your chief minister. We have to join the campaign every week for ten minutes to save ourselves and our families. This can only happen if we continue to fight against dengue with all our conviction. I have a lot of expectations from children because nobody can turn down a child’s appeal. That is why I urge you children, to take the first step towards checking for clean stagnant water in your homes and then motivate your parents to do the same. The determination of children can leave adults far behind,” said the chief minister.
While speaking to the children, Kejriwal said that dengue has spread in many states and doctors have feared that it would be the most dangerous this year.
“However, public participation in the mega campaign against dengue has resulted in only 286 cases in Delhi this year. It’s almost like magic,” said Kejriwal, referring to what people’s participation can do.
He said, in 2015, there were 15,000 cases and 60 people were killed.
“Last year, there were 2,800 cases of Dengue. Everybody needs to be extra-careful because the disease is supposed to be more effective this year. Dengue larvae form into mosquitoes in eight to ten days. A dengue mosquito lays a thousand eggs per month, which means one such mosquito will produce 10 million mosquitoes in three months. We have to inspect for stagnant water to not allow even one mosquito to breed,” said the Chief Minister.
Kejriwal appealed to students for their support for the campaign.
“We will send a kit to all the schools in a few days, which will contain pamphlets, stickers and ‘Dengue Warrior’ badges. The pamphlets have all the relevant information related to Dengue. There will be three stickers which say, ‘My House is Dengue Free’, one for your house and the other two for your two neighbours. Students will have to form a team by wearing Dengue Warrior badges. The teams will check their homes every Sunday, and then can go to their neighbouirng homes for inspection,” said the Chief Minister.
Kejriwal on September 1 started the campaign urging people to inspect their homes for 10 minutes every week for 10 Sundays at 10 am. The campaign will continue till November 15.
