With the hypothetical theory, Ashiq Hussain War—a government school teacher changes the insight of the students towards hygiene and cleanness that subsequently improved their attendance and health as well.
According to War’s ‘B-Clean and C-Magic’ concept, “the students who visit the school while maintain proper hygiene will see magic after a month.”
War says that when he was appointed as a teacher at Government Primary School Hakdaji of Sheikhpora zone in frontier district Kupwara, he came to know that the parents of students studying in that school were not much educated and their wards were not maintaining hygiene.
“The moment I came into this village as a teacher, I realized that it was a hard nut to crack in such a village where people were not aware about the basic concepts of cleanliness,” he said.
War said that his journey of implementing ‘B-Clean and C-Magic’ concept started from that village because he believes that before education, cleanliness is very important and necessary for one to survive.
He said that initially he tried to call the parents of students to make them aware about the basic hygiene that one must have. “But I failed to achieve my goal. Then I decided to make the students of that school aware about these concepts but I didn’t involve parents or anyone else to fulfill my goal.”
“I started instructing the students to come in a clean uniform with proper hygiene and with my hypothetical theory; I told them that if they would regularly attend the classes in a clean uniform and proper hygiene, a miracle will happen,” War said.
The innovative teacher further said that in order to keep the students clean and hygienic, he used to write ‘B-Clean’ on the wall with bold letters and after writing this he used to inform them that after one month they will see a magic will happen.
“The interesting part of the hypothetical theory was that I told my students that only those students can see the magic and will get benefit out of it that will regularly attend the schools while maintaining cleanliness,” War said.
Every week, in the morning assembly he used to assess every student by giving them marks on the basis of their cleanliness, particularly on Fridays.
“Accordingly, on the last day of the month when students would leave to their respective homes, I would check the dairy and about the first three toppers of the school in terms of cleanliness,” War said adding, “Soon after the students leave the school, I would write the name of those three students on the walls of the classroom with bold letters or I would post their pictures to ensure them a magic has happened.”
He said that on the first day of the month the students were desperate to see the magic. “Outside the school also the students were asking me to tell them about the magic.”
War further said at that time, when the students enter the classroom and see their pictures or the name on the wall, it gave them a boost to come neat and clean to the school. This even improved their attendance.
“Due to this hypothetical theory, the curiosity among students was increasing day-by-day and with this step, every student in the school got to know that they have to maintain the cleanliness for the magic that used to happen every month. I named the theory as ‘B clean C Magic,” he said.
War also said that the process continued for 5-6 months and he was successful in achieving his goal. “Due to this process, hygiene among the students was maintained and the attendance of the students also increased.”
The innovative teacher further says that not only the students of his class, the whole school started keeping good hygiene from then onwards.
“The health issues also got better after maintaining hygiene and the students excelled in academics by regularly attending the school,” he said.
War said that the exercise is still going on and he has implemented this theory in four government schools he has been posted to. “I have successfully achieved my goal in all the schools and I also got the national award for this.”
