The Ministry of Education on Saturday, November 19, announced that thirty-nine schools from across the country have been awarded the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraska award for the academic session 2021-22. There were over 8.23 lakh schools that gave their entries for this Swachh Vidyalaya Puraska. As many as 28 schools that were awarded were government schools and government-aided schools while 11 were private schools. Of the 39 schools were two Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, one Navodaya Vidyalaya and three Kendriya Vidyalayas, stated a PTI report.
The Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar is awarded to schools which have taken up faultless work in sanitation, water and physical hygiene and also provide a benchmark and roadmap for other schools to make further improvements in the same field. The award is given based on a judgment based on six broad parameters: Water, toilets, handwashing with soap, operation and maintenance, behavioural change, capacity building and COVID-19 (Preparedness and Response), as reported by PTI.
An official from the Ministry of Education said, "Out of 39 schools, 17 are elementary and 22 are secondary/higher secondary schools. Cash prizes of Rs 60,000 to 34 schools (in overall category) and Rs 20,000 (in sub-categories) were given to the awardee schools today." The third edition of the award, saw participation from 9.59 lakh schools, around 1.5 times more than the number of schools (6.15 lakh schools) which participated in Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18.
