Govt schools outshine private schools in cleanliness

Government schools have beaten private schools in the maintenance of cleanliness in their campus.

Out of a total 52 finalists for this year's Swachh Vidyalaya Puruskar, 45 are the government schools while the remaining seven are private, according to a list of the finalists for the award prepared by a jury under the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry.

No school from Karnataka could make it to the list of the finalists for the national awards.

Over 6 lakh schools from different parts of the country participated in the race for this year's award.

Private schools were invited to apply for the award from this year.

The winner schools will be presented with Swachh Vidyalaya Puruskar at a function scheduled to be held here on September 18.

The award will carry a certification of recognition and Rs 50,000 to be credited directed to the account of the winner school.

UNICEF had roped in the Network for Engineering and Economics Research and Management (NEERMAN) for conducting a third party field validation survey of the schools joining the race from all the states and Union Territories for the award.

“The field validation survey of schools indicated that there were 727 schools in the zone of consideration for the national level award, out of which 637 were government schools and 90 private schools,” a ministry official said.

The NEERMAN had assessed 168 schools in 5-star rating and 385 in 4-star rating out of these 727 schools as per their evaluation report.

Later, a panel under School Education secretary Reena Ray comprising officers from UNICEF further reviewed the NEERMAN's report and shortlisted 52 schools out of 727 for the awards.