‘Swachh Shanivara’ to create awareness in young minds

To inculcate the value of cleanliness and to ensure it becomes a part of life and culture of the younger generation, ‘Swachh Shanivara’ is observed in all the schools in Dakshina Kannada.

Taking a cue from the success of the programme in Bantwal taluk last year, this year the Bantwal block education officer and the Block Resource Centre have prepared a timetable to be followed by all the schools to bring in uniformity in the programme.

As a part of the sanitation day or ‘Swachh Shanivara’, the authorities have incorporated one period in the school time table. For 45 minutes, the schools will organise either an indoor or an outdoor activity. It is an activity-based swachchata programme, which includes competitions and shramadaana as well.

The Bantwal block education officer has prepared a timetable of the activities that would be taken up till February 23. The timetable has been circulated to various schools in the district.

As per the timetable, the activities to be taken up are swachatha neethi (sanitation policy), planting saplings on the school premises, to ensure that water does not get stagnated on the school premises, creating awareness on communicable diseases that spread during monsoon, penning poems on sanitation and also creating tunes for the same, teachers demonstrating rainwater harvesting, elocution competition on role of students in sanitation, workshop on trash to treasure, awareness on not to waste food and ill-effects of plastic.

Further, the timetable has an essay competition on the topic “My contribution towards Swacch Bharath,” awareness on segregation of waste at the source, and recycle of waste, use of toilets, a quiz on swacch parisara, interaction with locals and medical officers on cleanliness.

The sanitation day will also have cleanliness drive in the school-level, “jatha on swacchatheyede namma nade”, demonstration on hand wash day, drawing competition on sanitation for each class, creating awareness on facilities available from the Zilla Panchayat to maintain our surroundings clean, writing limericks on sanitation, visiting houses to create awareness on sanitation, preparation of collage on sanitation and cleanliness.

In addition, the students will be made aware on personal hygiene, fancy dress competition on Nature, collection of plastic from the surrounding of the school and make an effective way to dispose it and visit to farmers house.

The sanitation week during the academic year will conclude with cleanliness drive in the school.