MANILA, Philippines – Cleanliness goes beyond spotless surfaces and stain removal. What is dusted off, wiped down or swept may still give shelter to millions of germs that may threaten the health of families, especially children.

Our children. The playful and curious little beings who get in contact with so many germ-filled surfaces in areas they frequent: home and school. Of course, contact with these germy places, if irregularly cleaned, may lead to sickness and absences from school. In fact, children can be absent and miss school activities for 2-3 days at a time due to sickness. That is why it is crucial to keep children’s surroundings clean and germ-free.

Cleaning the house is easier since parents have more control in this environment, but mothers continue to worry whether their standard of clean extends to their children’s schools.

With the opening of the new school year, Zonrox has once again tied up with mommy volunteers through Linizkwela, a back-to-school cleanup program implemented in public schools nationwide. The Linizkwela program has been up and running for the past four years, keeping schools that need assistance clean and ready for the new school year.

This year, apart from the nationwide clean up activity in Linizkwela, the Zonrox team visited a few public schools in Metro Manila to conduct a germ level test to check for microbial contamination on various surfaces commonly found in schools.

The results shockingly showed as much as 490,000 CFU (Colony Forming Units or germs) on a single canteen table and a staggering 1,200,000 CFU on a toilet bowl, spelling danger for all the children who would flock to these areas during recess.

Equipped with this knowledge, mommy volunteers of Linizkwela united, scrubbed, and cleaned these areas with Zonrox Plus, the extra thick and sudsy bleach for all-purpose cleaning. “Pumunta ako dito ngayon para tumulong maglinis ng eskwelahan ng anak ko (I came here to help clean the school of my child). Alam kong ‘pag ako at mga kapwa ko nanay ang maglilinis (I know that if it’s me and my fellow moms will clean), makasisiguro talaga kami na germ-free ang paaralan (we are assured that the school will be germ-free).” says Mommy Imelda Perez, a volunteer in San Joaquin Elementary School. Once the volunteer moms were done, succeeding germ tests were conducted to check the cleanliness level of the schools, revealing that 99.9% of germs were killed.

All the cleaning may have been tiring, but ultimately, these moms gave the students a clean and healthy start to school year 2014-2105, because germ-free means their kids have less chances of getting sick and going absent on the days that may very well define their future.

Zonrox Plus, through its Linizkwela program has helped disinfect close to 200 schools, creating healthy learning environments for over 112,000 students nationwide in the past four years. Zonrox Plus is an All-Around Bleach with Detergent. Its extra thick and sudsy formula aids in effectively cleaning surfaces, while killing 99.9% of disease-causing germs and viruses like H1N1, Flu, Rotavirus, Hepa A, E. coli and Salmonella. For more information about Zonrox Plus and Linizkwela, please visit the Zonrox Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/ZonroxPH.