Indonesian Journal of Community Engagement Jurnal Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat Vol. 7, No. 1, March 2021, Page. 1 – 7 DOI: http://doi.org/ 10.22146/jpkm. 46870 ISSN 2460-9447 (print), ISSN 2541-5883 (online) *Corresponding author : Dewi Yunita Department of Agricultural Product Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jalan Tgk. Hasan Krueng Kalee No.3, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Aceh, 23111, Indonesia Email: dewi_yunita@unsyiah.ac.id Copyright © 2019 Jurnal Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat (Indonesian Journal of Community Engagement). This work is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Vol. 7, No. 1, www.jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jpkm 1 The Use of Selective Agar Medium to Increase the Awareness of Handwashing of Students at SD Negeri 57 Banda Aceh, Indonesia Dewi Yunita 1 *, Saidatul Wulya 2 , Sri Muliani 2 , Fathurrahman Luthfi 2 , Anggi Pratiwi 3 , Rika Farhana 4 1 Department of Agricultural Product Technology, 2 Agricultural Product Technology Study Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia 3 Department of Biology Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia 4 Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia Submitted: June 20 th 2019; Revised: May 26 th 2020; Accepted: January 06 th 2021 Keywords: Handwashing Microbes Student primary school Selective agar media Abstract Hand is a part of the body that contains lots of microbes. Handwashing is kind of a clean and healthy lifestyle that is aimed to reduce the number of microbes in the hand. The proper handwashing behavior should be begun to be accustomed since in elementary school, but students’ awareness is relatively low. This is alleged because they assumed that their hands look clean. In this community engagement activity on how to wash hands properly, hundred students in national primary school SD Negeri 57 Banda Aceh, Indonesia were involved from March until June 2019 and then ten students were chosen as ambassador of handwashing (ducuta). Two selective media agars were used to grow microbes from the hands of the students before and after hand washing. Several programs (secuta, mocuta, bacuta, and kacuta) were also conducted to measure the success of this activity. There was an increase in understanding the proper way of handwashing from 78% before socialization to 96% after the socialization. The results based on the handwashing activity book (bacuta) showed that 50% of the ducuta have begun to get used to washing their hands properly before eating, after going to the toilet, and after playing recommended by WHO. 1. INTRODUCTION Hands are parts of the body that are used most in contact with the environment. The spreading of diseases such as diarrhea, gastrointestinal infections, as well as respiratory system infections can easily happen if the hands are not properly washed (Pratami et al., 2013; Lipinwati et al., 2017). Diarrhea has become the mortality cause of 1.8 million toddlers in developing nations (Sumampouw, 2017). According to the data by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health of Indonesia in 2009, each year on average 100,000 children in Indonesia are dead due to diarrhea (Kartika & Rahmawati, 2017). In Aceh, the prevalence of diarrhea has increased from 7.5% in 2013 to 8% in 2018 (Kemenkes RI, 2018). One of the causal factors is the lack of practice of a clean and healthy lifestyle, especially handwashing, in children between the age of 7 to 12 years old. The fundamental problem that often occurs is the lack of understanding in elementary students on the importance of handwashing, proper methods of