New Delhi: “It is believed, students are the future of the country, so when they participate in any development activity, the nation will obviously progress. That is why the development of our schools is necessary. Currently, the biggest goal for India is to fulfill the dream of Mahatma Gandhi, a dream of a clean nation. And, our students are the ones who will help us meet the targets,” says Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday as he presented the “Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar” awards to schools from various parts of the country.
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Highlighting how now cleanliness has become a movement in which schools and students are playing a crucial role, Mr Javadekar further said,
Swachhata is like a habit, if people start practising it on a daily basis, it will be with them for a longer period of time. Imagine if crores of people start keeping the country clean, our country will become one of the cleanest nations in the world.
'स्वच्छ भारत स्वस्थ भारत' के संकल्प को तेलंगाना की बेटियों ने सेनेटरी नैपकिन बनाने की विधि द्वारा साकार करते हुए .
Students from KGBV Mulugu, Siddipet Dist. Telangana demonstrate Sanitary Napkin Production Process on the sidelines of #SwachhVidyalayaPuraskar event in New Delhi pic.twitter.com/0ijaG4YCbm— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) September 18, 2018
Mr Javadekar also asserted that the Swachh Bharat Mission started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has today become a jan andolan which is helping the country move forward. He adds,
India is changing, it is progressing towards becoming a swachh bharat. Moreover, the attitude among the citizens is changing, if someone litters on the roads, now people say – ‘Don’t do this’.
Talking about the social satires like ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’ and ‘Padman’, union minister Prakash Javadekar said,
No one would have imagined that films like these would be made and they would become popular. This is the changing picture of a changed India. This is our changed determination that we will achieve cleanliness.
The Swachh Vidyalaya Puruskar was launched in 2016-17 by the HRD Ministry to recogniSe and honour the schools which have done exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene. This year, a total of 52 schools selected from among 6.5 lakh, including over 45,000 private schools, were presented the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2018 awards.
Of the 52 awardee schools, 37 schools are from rural areas and 15 from urban areas. 45 are government/government aided schools and 7 are private schools. Further, 24 are elementary and 28 are secondary/higher secondary schools. This year, the schools that have been awarded also include 5 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and 2 Navodaya Vidyalayas.
The proud winners of #SwachhVidyalayaPuraskar 2017-18 #SHS2018 #स्वच्छता_ही_सेवा @PMOIndia @PrakashJavdekar @cbseindia29 @kvsedu @PIB_India @MIB_India @DDNewsLive @PIBHindi @UpendraRLSP @Rayyrina @UNICEF @UNICEFIndia @dr_satyapal pic.twitter.com/NPx363E9Ev
— Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia) September 18, 2018
As part of the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar, each of the school selected for the award is being given an additional school grant of Rs. 50,000 along with a Certificate of Recognition.
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