Lucknow: In view of the Swachh Bharat Diwas celebrated on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to launch an extensive cleanliness campaign across all schools and educational institutions in the state leading up to October 2. As part of this initiative, children will be educated about the importance of cleanliness through various school and community-based activities. The main theme of this program will be ‘Mera Vidyalaya – Swachh Vidyalaya.’
Earlier, the UP government had also organised ‘Swachhta Pakhwada’ in all the educational institutions of the state from September 1, 2023, to September 15, 2023, which will now continue till October 2.
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It is noteworthy that with the aim of making sensitivity towards cleanliness a mass movement, every year the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, October 2, is celebrated as Swachh Bharat Diwas.
In this sequence, the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ program is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, the Government of India, and Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural and Urban). With the objective to emphasise the importance of cleanliness in public places, the main theme of the proposed program ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ has been set as ‘Garbage Free India’.
Following the prayer assembly, a “Swachhata Pledge” will be administered across all schools and educational institutions, involving students, teachers, and staff. School teachers will lead waste disposal campaigns on school premises and hostels, emphasising colour-coded solid waste management: green bins for wet waste and blue bins for dry waste.
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Apart from this, tree plantation will be carried out in all schools, hostels and educational institutions and children will be made aware of nature conservation. A range of competitions, including essay writing, slogan creation, poetry, painting, speeches, quizzes, model construction, and drama performances, will be organised, focusing on topics such as “Garbage Free India” and waste management. Prizes will be awarded to encourage students who excel in these competitions.
Furthermore, community awareness rallies with cleanliness messages, emphasising the importance of solid waste segregation and promoting alternatives to single-use plastics (SUP), will be conducted through educational institutions in both Gram Panchayats and urban areas.
Apart from this, in the morning meetings, teachers will make students aware of the importance of ‘Shramdaan,’ cleanliness and community service. During the campaign, leadership and cooperation of important stakeholders, institutions, individuals etc. will be obtained from public representatives, voluntary organisations working on cleanliness, NCC, Nehru Yuva Kendras etc.
With the aim of making this important campaign a mass campaign, maximum publicity of the program will be done through various social media platforms, print media, and electronic media.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
