Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar

The HRD Ministry has announced a National Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar to recognise, inspire and celebrate excellence in sanitation and hygiene practice in government schools.

Government schools, in rural and urban areas, that have satisfied the mandate of the Swachh Vidyalaya campaign, will be honoured at the District, State and National levels under the five elements: water, toilets, hand washing, operations and maintenance and behavioural change and capacity building.

This GoI initiative was launched during the last week of June and schools were asked to apply for the award at www.mhrd.gov.in or through a mobile app: Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar.

At the Zonal WinS Meet in Chennai, WinS Vice Chair and PRID P T Prabhakar said that Rotary India WinS Committee is likely to support this programme at the national level and partly sponsor the final awards ceremony to be held in December at Delhi. Districts were urged to support this initiative and sponsor the awards and financial incentives for the winning schools in consultation with the District Collector/District Education Officers.

Government funds WASH projects

The Ministries of HRD, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water & Sanitation, have jointly agreed to allow the States to use the 14th Finance Commission funds for WASH in Schools. “It is a great opportunity for the District Collectors to mobilise the Panchayats to invest the money to enhance drinking water, toilet and handwashing facilities in government schools in their region. Rotary clubs can also advice the local district administration to issue relevant circulars to the Panchayats for timely release of funds to schools and monitor the operations and maintenance,” said Prabhakar.