World Toilet Day: World's first ever toilet college to be operational from March 2016
New Delhi: World Toilet College, being touted as the first such effort being made internationally, will be operational from March next year, its developers announced on Thursday on the occasion of United Nations World Toilet Day.
The first such college, being built with an intention to share knowledge about toilets including its modelling in scientific manners and creating awareness amongst public towards giving up open defecation in line with Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, will come up in Rishikesh, they said.
Informing about the initiative during a conference organised by Jagran Pehel to mark the Day, the developers - Parmarth Niketan, World Toilet Organisation (WTO), makers of Dettol and Harpic RB South Asia - said the college will be open for all those who want to learn and train others in know-how of toilets.
"This college is being developed to impart knowledge relating to toilets. There are so many people working on the issue in the country. All of them need to be given a single platform. All the knowledge has to be brought together.
"A toilet is being built for every 30 seconds. But how to design, build toilets, what should be its model, all these aspects need to be taught about and the same be passed on to others. We will do it through the college. We have built enough temples, now people need to be trained in constructing toilets," Swami Chidanand Saraswati said.
He further said the developers aim to target young children "as they can be easily honed", but added admissions will be open for all "whomsoever is interested in working on the issue".
"We want people with interest in eradicating the problem of open defecation to join us. We are trying to see we do not charge fees to those who want to learn from here," he said.
The first facility at Rishikesh will have a capacity of training 1000 students to begin with, he said. The length of course to be undertaken will vary from three hours to three months, Saraswati added.
The conference was also addressed by chairman of Jagran Pehel Sameer Gupta, WTO founder Jack Sim, Sadhvi Bhagwati Saraswati, sarpanch of Haryana's Gomla village Radhe Shyam Gomla, RB India manager (external affairs) Ravi Bhatnagar and others.
