Dettol’s parent company, Reckitt, has tied up with coding edtech startup WhiteHat Jr to announce a digital scholarship programme. The program aims to create digital hygiene solutions under the FMCG major’s CSR initiative Dettol Banega Swasth. The program aims to inspire children in the age group of 6-18 years to reimagine health and hygiene solutions. They have to build solutions that impact all human touch-points – personal, domestic, community and environment.

The program – WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs Program – will provide 50 scholarships of Rs 50000 each, from Reckitt. The scholarships will go to top performers for creating innovative mobile apps to address hygiene and health issues. According to the company statement, this six-month campaign will have three phases. The initial submission has begin from April 12 and will continue till May 12.

“We, at Dettol Banega Swasth India, believe in education as the catalyst to social change and tool to empower children. We wanted to provide the socially conscious minds a platform to reimagine this cause and come up with solutions that will encourage more children to join the movement and make a difference,” Reckitt AMESA Director, External Affairs and Partnerships, Ravi Bhatnagar said.

 Along the line, Karan Bajaj, Founder and CEO, WHiteHat Jr stated, “Children are naturally creative and empathetic. Since they are not predisposed to an existing concept or bound by the constraints of what’s doable, the solutions end up being genuinely innovative.”

How to participate in WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs Program?

The company states that the platform aims to enable young minds to get creative about solving health and hygiene issues in our country. It has also listed down some some examples of ideas. They are:

• Help people locate public washrooms quickly by showing a digital map of all the toilets in your city, state, or country.

• Map out the nearest ambulance services so people can get help immediately in case of need

• Help people connect with yoga instructors in your neighbourhood by showing them a list of options by age or level of expertiseYou can submit your unique ideas on the official website.

Eligibility Criteria

Students who are between 6 to 18 years of age (or Grade 1-12) and are Indian residents are eligible to participate. Please note that you need to share a valid mobile number and will be allowed only 1 submission. Further, you do not need to be a WhiteHat Jr student to participate in this program. The company also states that coding knowledge is not a prerequisite for participation.

About Phase II and Phase III

After the Phase I, i.e. application from students, the committee will interview and shortlist 200 students by July 1, 2021. They will recieve mentorship from WhiteHat Jr experts where they will develop a prototype off their idea. Post this, they will have to submit an app prototype where an external jury will judge the prototypes and select Top 50 winners. These top 50 Winners will receive a scholarship of Rs 50000 from Dettol Banega Swasth India. The pointers for winning are app features, functionalities and design.

About Reckitt

Reckitt, earlier known as RB, owns popular brands. Some familiar names include AirWick, Dettol, Durex, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Vanish, and Veet.