Kerala education minister starts 'Water-bell' system in all schools

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The water-bell system, envisaged to ensure that students drink adequate water during school hours, commenced in Kerala schools on Monday. State General Education Minister V Sivankutty inaugurated the initiative during a function held in a vocational and higher secondary school here.

Under the new initiative, the bell would be rung twice at 10.30 am and 2.30 pm in all schools in the state to remind children to drink water. With temperatures soaring by the day in the state, it is necessary to ensure that students drink adequate water to keep themselves hydrated during summer, official sources said.

The increased heat is likely to trigger dehydration and uneasiness among students and so it is necessary for them to drink a lot of water even if they don't feel thirsty, the minister said. The minister said that clean drinking water should be made available in schools for students who do not bring water from home. Drinking enough water is the only way to fight adverse impacts of increasing heat, the minister said, urging everyone's support in implementing the initiative successfully.

Earlier, the General Education Department made it clear that Kerala was the first state to introduce this system in the country. "We implemented it for the first time in 2019 in schools in some areas, due to the high temperature there. Drawing lessons from us, states like Karnataka and Telangana implemented it later. Now, we are implementing it in schools across the state considering the rising mercury levels," a source had said. Under the new system, each such 'drinking water' break will be for five minutes.