Government to engage students during vacation on Swachh Mission

NEW DELHI:  The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is engaging school kids during this summer vacation in the Swachh Bharat mission. All the mission directors have been asked by the ministry to collaborate with government and private schools to channelise the enthusiasm of students to implement cleanliness initiatives.

In a letter to all mission directors, the ministry said, “An intensive engagement is proposed with students during the summer vacation period. This engagement to be overseen by the ministry will seek to channelise the enthusiasm of students (Standard IV to XII) in designing and implementing Swachhta initiatives.”

Officials said that the engagement of students will also aim to create interlinkages between classroom learning and practical components of Swachhta through mentorship from schools and urban local bodies and inculcate cleanliness habits in children from an early age.

The stakeholders in the exercise include the municipal bodies, students and teachers and they have been asked to organize various activities including painting competition, plays, songs, other performances, screen films and documentaries on the theme of cleanliness.

Activities also include organizing visits to waste processing and recycling facilities, organize plogging drives in neighbourhoods and public places such as parks, playgrounds and at other places. Stakeholders have also been asked to organize workshops on home and community composting, undertake city beautification drives.