Prakash Javadekar confers Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar awards to 52 schools

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday conferred the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2018 awards to 52 schools selected from among 6.5 lakh, including over 45,000 private schools, at an event held at the Ambedkar International Centre in the national capital, as a part of the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' campaign launched by Prime Minister on September 15, 2018.

Addressing the event, Javadekar said that cleanliness had now become a movement in which schools and students were playing a crucial role.

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The HRD minister also lauded Akshay Kumar’s Toilet Ek Prem Katha and Padman saying such films symbolised the changing picture of a changed India that is determined to achieve cleanliness.

"No one would have imagined that films like 'Toilet Ek Prem Katha' and 'Padman' 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," Javadekar said added.

Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya (SBSV) initiative was launched by the HRD ministry in 2014 to ensure that all the schools in the country had access to separate functional toilets for boys and girls.

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Of the 52 awardee schools, 37 schools are from rural areas,15 from urban areas, 45 are government/government aided schools and 7 are private schools.

The national awards for clean schools were based on a self-appraisal system, in which five parameters- drinking water, toilets, capacity building, behavioural change and washing hands, were evaluated.

(With inputs from agencies)