"Mizuiku - I love clean water," an education programme to promotechildren's awareness of water conservation, has been launched in My Ducand Thanh Oai districts of Hanoi.

The 12-monthprogramme is being jointly organised by the districts' education andtraining divisions and the Suntory Group and Suntory PepsiCo VietnamBeverage (SPVB) as an initiative to celebrate the World Water Day onMarch 22.

Executive Chairman of SPVB Katsuyasu Kato said, "Weexpect the programme to help Vietnamese primary school students, who arethe future protectors of the country's environment, just as it does inJapan."

The pilot programme will target about 1,600 pupils andteachers of six primary schools in the two districts of Thanh Oai and MyDuc, Hanoi.

It will focus on activities to educate children onthe role of water on the planet and to raise children's awareness on theimportance of water resources and water hygiene in their daily life, sothat they can lead healthy lives and water resources can be conservedfor future generations.

The project will also donate40,000 USD for the installation of water facilities and for upgradationof toilets that are in a state of serious disrepair in these schools.

InJapanese, Mizu means "water" and iku stands for "education". Mizuiku isa natural water education programme that has been successfullyimplemented in Japan since 2004. Over 10 years of its implementation,98,000 children and parents in Japan have attended teaching classes andoutdoor activities of the programme.-VNA