An Investigation to Assess How an Educational Intervention Program Affects Primary School Students' Understanding of Environmental Sanitation in Children at a Certain School at Kanyakumari District

Abstract

Environmental sanitation plays a vital role in promoting public health. Teaching children through interactive methods such as puppet shows helps improve awareness and encourages healthy habits. A person's, families, and community's health are significantly influenced by their surroundings. People’s health is impacted by their living and working environments, the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food they eat, etc. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate students' understanding of environmental sanitation at the chosen Kanyakumari District School. Objectives: To determine the pre-test and post-test levels of environmental sanitation knowledge among elementary school students, as well as the impact of a puppet performance on children's environmental sanitation knowledge. Methodology: Purposive sampling was employed to choose primary school students for a pre-experimental one-group pre-test and post-test design. Prior to and during the educational intervention program, a standardized questionnaire was given out. Findings: 60% of kids had insufficient knowledge on the pre-test, whereas 60% had sufficient knowledge following the educational intervention program. The average knowledge score rose from 6.1 to 10.3. A considerable improvement was demonstrated by the t-value (7.65, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The educational intervention program show was an effective, enjoyable, and child-friendly method to improve knowledge on environmental sanitation among primary school children.