|
RAS expresses
appreciation to its former President
No words can express our
deepest appreciation for former Honorary RAS President Ms Tan Puay Hoon, for
tirelessly fronting many impactful initiatives amidst her tight schedule
of managing her own retail consultancy business. In 2003, she was invited
to join us as our volunteer by our Founder and newly-appointed Advisor Mr
Jack Sim. She had been an active volunteer since 2003 and four years
later, she was elected as our President in 2007. She led initiatives and
programmes promoting clean restrooms to the whole community, from young
to old. In 2008, she spearheaded and launched the Let’s Observe
Ourselves (LOO) Campaign, a campaign that targeted toilet owners,
cleaning attendants and public users by adopting a four-pronged  holistic approach:
·
Encourage toilet
owners to commit to the ownership of their clean toilet facilities by
joining our Happy Toilet
Programme.
·
Train cleaning
attendants with the right skills to maintain the toilets.
·
Educate
public users about toilet etiquette, personal hygiene and public health
with our public and school
education programmes.
·
Recognise organisations and
individuals who have contributed to help Singapore achieve a world
recognised standard of toilet cleanliness.
Under her helm, we were
awarded the Environmental
Health Stewardship Award by the Society of Environmental Health for our
contributions to the community in the area of environmental health in
2009. From 2008 to 2010, she was also the Chairman for an Inter-Agencies
Working Committee (IAWC) on Clean Toilets, with more than 25
participating organisations from the government and private sectors, jointly
releasing an IAWC report, which was also a three-year
blueprint on public restrooms. In the same year in 2010, RAS was
conferred the 'Institutions of a Public Character' (IPC) status and
successfully became an Associate
Member of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) in 2013. Under
her stewardship, RAS achieved many milestones. While we are
heartened to continue having her on our Board Committee, we are confident
she will not only continue to strongly advocate for clean public
restrooms but also to tremendously succeed in her future endeavours.
|
|
RAS marks its 20th anniversary
with the launch of its Happy Toilets @ Preschools Booklet & Handbook
In collaboration with Dyson Airblade hand
dryer distributor VISO Pte Ltd, RAS developed the booklet and handbook to
mark its 20th anniversary since its inception in 1998. The booklet and
handbook was launched on 23rd August at Cherie Hearts @ Charlton by Associate Professor
Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry
of Education and Ministry of Social and Family Development. The
booklet is an activity booklet for children to “Have Fun, Be Happy
& Stay Healthy” by cultivating good toilet habits. The booklet
educates the children about showing kindness to cleaning attendants and
understanding interesting toilet names, toilet signages, germs and good
toilet habits. Games and activities such as word puzzle, maze, spot the  differences,
connecting the dots, etc. are incorporated to make learning fun for the
children.
The handbook is a guidebook for teachers and parents which aims at
providing them with the necessary knowledge and resources to engage
children on effective hygiene education. Learning points for children are
provided for every game and activity. This includes a history of toilets,
dos and don’ts, types of germs and fun steps of hand washing. There
is also a segment on projects and activities for teachers and parents to
engage with their children. The children at Cherie Hearts @ Charlton also
participated in a “Keep Clean, Go Green” activity on the
eight steps of hand washing together with staff of VISO. Children dried
their hands with Dyson Airblade hand dryers instead of paper towels not
only to go green but also to lessen the cleaning attendants’
workload of regularly clearing litter bins.
|
|
RAS partners with Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) under
the Innovation Guidance Projects (IGP)
Under
the ECDA’s community-based IGP, preschools could explore innovative
ideas and approaches to enhance learning experiences of children, and
promote community engagement and home-centre partnerships. Community
partners are engaged to provide training for participating preschools to
support teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out
innovative activities with  children.
As a community partner under ECDA IGP, RAS conducts training for
preschool teachers to embark on Happy Toilets @ Preschools hygiene
projects namely decorations, inspections, exhibitions and appreciations
(showing kindness to cleaning attendants).
The
training conducted at ECDA for preschool teachers on 18th July aimed to
equip them with the knowledge and resources to create a clean and
hygienic environment for children from N1 to K2, and to provide
opportunities for them to develop healthy habits. Teachers were also
guided to organise projects on hygiene issues that enhance
children’s communication, social-emotional skills, creativity and
teamwork. A total of 10 preschools participated in the pilot run of our
training. Our Happy Toilets @ Preschools Booklet and Handbook serve to reinforce
our commitment as a community partner with ECDA under the IGP. The
booklet and handbook were developed as recommended resource materials for
participating preschools under the IGP.
|
|
RAS shares good hygiene practices with early childhood educators
At the Bring Friends for
Learning Network Session organised
by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) on 13th September, after a brief introduction about its
flagship Happy
Toilets @ Preschools Programme (HTPP), RAS shared some good hygiene
practices under the three phases
– Design, Maintenance and Education - of its HTTP as follows:
- Toilet
signage at children’s eye level to educate the children about
locating toilets at public places such as shopping centres and
hawker centres
 Children-friendly soap dispensers for
children to effortlessly press for hand soap- The use of fast-drying HEPA hand dryers to
save paper and lessen the cleaning attendants’ workload of
regularly clearing litter bins
- The use
of foam soap to save water
- The use
of rubber hose for showering or washing
- Proper
removal of human spillages such as vomit, blood, etc
- The
difference between sanitising and disinfecting
- Colour-coding
system for mops, cloths and pails to prevent cross contamination
- Disinfection
of soiled clothing
- Simple
educational logos
- Fun
hand-washing steps
- Reward
stickers to encourage children to practise good hygiene
RAS also set up a booth to showcase about its
HTPP and newly-launched Booklet & Handbook. Its partners, Ozone
technology provider Adsec Systems and Dyson Airblade hand dryer distributor VISO, were also present to showcase their innovative products.
|
|
|
