Mass Education initiated health education, primary and secondary health care and health infrastructure development activities, such as conducting of health awareness campaign, running of clinics, hospitals, providing ambulance services, management of pulse-polio and routine immunization campaign and distribution of de-worming tablets to control intestinal parasite for school going children in our project area. Mass Education also works to provide low-cost latrines, clean and pucca roads, ponds, catch water dams and also general infrastructure development of villages. ME also organised solid waste management, providing safe drinking water, campaign against arsenic contamination were the key activities undertaken to support and good health campaign for the poor.

1. Drinking Water:

Safe drinking water is the main problem in most of the areas in Sundarbans because of salinity and Arsenic problem and also in West Bengal in general for uncontrolled usages of chemical pesticides and fertilizer in agriculture. Both human and animal faces problems due to non availability of safe drinking water. Women and children spend most of their time to fetch drinking water from distance as a result there is high rate of school absentee. So far for many of the villages pond is the only source of water which is used for drinking, cooking, and bathing, washing and even feeding animals. Due to lack of safe and clean drinking water people and animal suffers from severe water born dieses and epidemic is the common phenenomena in the south Bengal particularly in Sundarbans.There are tube wells in the villages for drinking but it is not sufficient to provide required safe and clean water for every body. But if awareness is created on the water management many of the problems can be solved and maximum utilization of surface water like rain can be utilising properly.

Therefore, Mass Education took initiative to raise awareness programme at all level to save water, proper use of water and harvest rainwater so that water problems can be solved. Group discussion in the community, learning through schools for the children has become an effective tool. On the other hand community are mobilized to go to the authority for demanding clean and safe drinking water and also mobilize there own resources either to dig ponds for rain water harvest and maintain it for domestic purpose and wherever is possible dig a tube well from below the salinity and arsenic prone area.

Since majority of the people are poor and not able to mobilize their resources other than human resource, Mass Education mobilize funds externally to install a tube well in the villages so that people have access of drinking water. Until March 2010, 30 deep tube-wells have been sunk and many more applications from the community are pending because of paucity of funds the project could not be completed, however, ME will continue to sink more deep tube wells for drinking purpose.

2. Sanitary Latrine:

Poor sanitation and lack of sanitary latrine are another big problem and challenges in the rural areas. 90% of the rural population does not have the sanitary latrine as a result soil, land and water get polluted. People use open field for the defecation, which are the major causes for fesses–to-mouth and other water borne and communicable diseases. In order to prevent them, Mass Education has started construction of latrines for each family. During this period 4000 latrine slaves has been supplied to different family in one Administrative Block with assistance from PHE Govt. of West Bengal and few other individual donors. We have target to provide 50,000 latrine slabs by the coming years. Through sanitary marts latrine slabs are produced. This programme has also created an additional employment opportunities for the local mason and plumbers.

100 school toilets have been constructed during this period in Jaynager Block with the assistance from Primary Health Engineering, Govt. of West Bengal.

Awareness on use of sanitary latrine and health & hygiene has been created through wall writing, distribution of handouts, songs and drama performances in the community and schools. This has resulted to better health & hygiene situation in the community.


3. Solid waste Management: (MEKUP)

Mass Education’s main thrust is rural development but also implementing urban environment improvement and poverty alleviation by conducting several activities in the city of Kolkata since inception. Slum improvement and rehabilitation of street children, working children, pavement dwellers and homeless people of Kolkata remains the primary target of Mass Education Urban Project.

Garbage disposal of the city is a continuous problem of the urban people including the urban poor because Kolkata Municipality is not able to reach everywhere for disposal of garbage timely, therefore the environment of the city became unbearable. Mass Education found the initiative of citizens and joins them with the movement for Clean Kolkata campaign.

Mass Education began the activities of raising awareness among the citizens of Kolkata for proper use of bins and disposal of garbage, at the same time joined hand with the municipality for disposal of garbage. Large numbers of urban unemployed youth were recruited and trained them for collection and disposal of garbage in the City by Mass Education and Municipality jointly. Unemployed youth of the slums are provided with employment generation activities along with education, health, sanitation and resettlement activities. Solid waste management created tremendous scope of job opportunity for the poor rag pickers and of the urban poor.

In a city like Kolkata street children, child labour and among them child rag-pickers were the major source of disposal and segregation of waste for the private people who exploit children for their own profit. In this regard, some of the children were rehabilitated and many of them have been replaced by the adult youth for collection and disposal of garbage from house to house. Mass Education is implementing all this activities successfully for the past 16 years. This project generates income out of which honorarium including social security are paid to all the staffs and profit are utilised for running the school for the street children.


4. Social forestry:

This year 2000 fruit trees and 3000 timber and firewood trees have been distributed among the families so that forest and food security can be grown both for human and animals. A forestation also makes the region green and good for the ecological-balance and has created a livelihood opportunities for the community. This project is also creating community assets.

5. Ambulance Services:

Mass Education is providing service to run 6 no. of Ambulances against nominal charges to provide emergency health services for the urban and rural poor. Ambulances are kept for services in the remote areas those who have no access to emergency services of health center. The need for this service is increasing.






6. Malaria, Dengue & Chikunguniya:
To fight against the malaria, dengue and chikunguniya - mosquito nets are distributed among the urban and rural poor as preventive measures. 5000 mosquito nets have been distributed among such affected families. Beside that an awareness campaign has been organized to keep the environment clean and dispose of the wastes and the stagnant water around the living places. Bleaching and spraying the area to kill the larva were organized with the Municipality and the Panchayat. Mosquito nets were distributed among the slum population of urban areas and in the villages of South 24 Parganas of West Bengal.