Aimed at promoting awareness on hygiene, HRD minister Smriti Irani on Thursday initiated a campaign under the central government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’. Launching the programme, the minister joined students and teachers in cleaning the school campus at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in New Delhi yesterday.
Under the HRD ministry’s ‘Swachh Bharat, Swachh Vidyalaya’ campaign, schools with the highest green rating would be felicitated with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. Irani, who used broom and shovel to clean the ground, called upon the involvement of all to become part of the mission and put in their best efforts for the success of the campaign.
The campaign is aimed at motivating students and making them realise that hygienic way of living was the best way. The campaign will go on till October 31 in the schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said in a statement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also slated to release a booklet on sanitation on October 2, when he launches the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, promoting behavioural changes in children. An important component of the mission is the construction of toilets in schools.
The seven states, which account for 80 per cent of the schools without toilets, have been asked to start building toilets from October 2, when the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ would be launched. The states include Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam. The state governments would initiate construction of toilets in 25,000 schools on October 2, under the ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyan’ and ‘Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan programme, officials in the HRD Ministry said.
States would also be advised to periodically monitor the functionality of toilets and take up repair and maintenance work, they said. The ministry has also asked higher educational institutes to join the campaign.
