The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, has invited entries from schools across the country for ‘Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021-2022’. All type of schools – government, government-aided and private – in both rural and urban areas can register for it.
The Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar has been instituted by the Education Ministry “to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in sanitation and hygiene practice in schools.”
“The purpose of the SVP is to honor schools that have undertaken significant steps towards fulfilling the mandate of the Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign. SVP is based on IT enabled assessment of WASH infrastructure, hygienic practices and COVID-19 appropriate behaviour,” according to an official statement.
Schools can register for it using their UDISE+ code. Visit swachhvidyalayapuraskar.com for more information.
The performance of the schools will be evaluated under six sub-categories: Drinking water, toilets, handwashing with soap, operation and maintenance, capacity building, and COVID-19 preparedness and response.
Awards will be given at three levels – District, State or Union Territory and National.
For District level, three, four and five star schools can apply and for state/UT level, only four and five star rated schools can apply.
For national level, only five star rated schools can apply.
The application window will be open till March-end. The national award ceremony is scheduled for October 15, which is also the global hand washing day.