Ranchi, Jharkhand |May | 30, 2018 :: The Departments of School Education & Literacy, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Panchayati Raj in partnership with UNICEF announced the winners of the ‘Swachh Bharat- Swachh Vidyalaya’ awards in the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) here today. All 212 government schools that received a ‘5 Star’ rating were given a cash reward of 1 lakh rupees each and all 2008 schools with a ‘4 Star’ rating were given 50,000 rupees each by Raghubar Das, Chief Minister of Jharkhand during the programme. Additionally, 40 of these 212 government schools have been shortlisted for the Swachta Puraskaar at the national level.
The ‘Swachh Bharat – Swachh Vidyalaya’ or the ‘Clean India – Clean Schools’ is a national campaign which seeks to ensure that every school in India has a set of functioning and well maintained water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. The schools are graded and ranked based on the availability of handwashing units, clean drinking water, Mid-day meal (MDM) shed, soak pit, rain water harvesting facility and dustbins in schools. Some behavioural indicators have also been included such as presence and action taken by trained teachers and members of the Child Cabinet (Bal Sansad) and Child Reporters in schools. Based on the above indicators the schools are graded and ranked 5, 4 and 3 star.
Dr. Neera Yadav, Minister of School Education and Literacy, Government of Jharkhand said, “Compared to 2016-17, there has been immense progress with 212 schools having received the 5 star rating, 2008 the 4 star rating and 13,892 the 3 star rating. A total of 20,343 schools had registered for the award this year. Out of the 212 5 star rated schools, 40 schools have been nominated for the same award at the national level.”
Raghubar Das, Chief Minister of Jharkhand said, “It is for the first time that we have approved 12 crores from the state budget for awarding the 5 and 4 star schools. The Government is committed to setting high standards in government schools at par with private schools in the state.”
Mr. A P Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy said, “Provision of clean and safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools creates a healthy environment and protects children from illnesses. Our aim is to have all schools with over 500 children in the 5 star grade.”
Dr Madhulika Jonathan, Chief of UNICEF Jharkhand said. “Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively. Hand-washing education and access to soap in schools can help improve attendance. Good hand-washing early in life may help improve child development in state like Jharkhand. Hand-washing can, according to research, reduce the rate of mortality from diseases like by almost 25 and 50 per cent, respectively. About 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. Hand-washing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhoea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.”
The program was attended by Arvind, Chairman of the JAC; Mr Shailesh Chaursia, Director MDM; all District Education Officers (DEOs), District Superintendents of Education (DSEs); Sanitation Ministers of the Child Cabinet (Bal Sansad); and the teachers from all the 40 award winning schools.
