Minister of State for Education Dr. Subhash Sarkar on Wednesday launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021-22 through digital medium.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Education, entries for this award can be sent from January 12 to March 31.
According to the ministry, Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021-22 is for all categories of schools and government, government aided and private schools from urban and rural areas can participate. The evaluation of schools will be done through online portal and mobile app in the preparedness and response section for water, sanitation, soap hand cleaning, operation and maintenance, behavior change and capacity building and newly added COVID-19.
On this occasion, Minister of State for Education Subhash Sarkar underlined the importance of water, sanitation and cleanliness in schools and said that they play an important role in determining the health of the students, their attendance, dropout rate and level of reading.
He said that water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools help in creating a healthy environment and provide protection to children from falling ill.
The Minister said that the Swachh Vidyalaya Awards recognize, inspire and honor such schools which have done exemplary work in the field of water and sanitation facilities.
It is worth mentioning that to create an atmosphere of self-motivation and awareness about cleanliness, the Department of School Education and Literacy had instituted the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar in the year 2016-17.
The schools will be awarded at district, state and national level on the basis of internationally recognized five star rating system.
According to the statement, this year 40 schools will be selected for the award at the national level in the overall category. Under the Samagra Shiksha Yojana, the award amount for schools has been increased from Rs. 50 thousand to Rs. 60 thousand per school from this year.
Apart from this, for the first time, awards have been started on the basis of six sub-categories in which a prize of Rs.20,000 per school will be given.
.