1,054 municipal schools to compete for swachhta awards

In a first, the city's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools have shown active participation in the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) 2017 — a result of Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR) joining hands with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to help the civic-run schools in the registration procedure. A total of 1,054 BMC schools (MNC and secondary) across the city have registered for this year's awards.

CACR, under guidance from the team at UNICEF Mumbai WASH (water supply, sanitation and hygiene), trained headmasters of the schools and administrative staff from the MCGM's education department on carrying out the self-assessment and survey of school premises required to qualify for the SVP.

CACR members organised meetings in schools and used MCGM's virtual studio platform to explain the online application procedure to headmasters and urban resource center heads. They shared insights on how the schools can improve their SVP rating in a short span by augmenting operations and maintenance of students' toilets, undertaking behaviour change programmes that lead to the adaption of hygienic habits and constituting two nodal WASH officers in every ward to ensure the initiative is sustainable.

Dr Richa Singh, co-founder and director of projects, CACR, said, "It's good that the MCGM Education Department is now including us in this initiative. These are the first steps towards making municipal schools WASH compliant. CACR and UNICEF Mumbai WASH teams conducted workshops with officials from the MCGM's education department and their allied departments of school infrastructure and health in October. Behaviour change programmes on handwashing with soap and menstrual hygiene management for adolescent girls are also being implemented across Mumbai's BMC schools by the organisation."

ABOUT SVP

• The awards were instituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India in 2016-17 to recognise and celebrate schools for their excellence in sanitation and hygiene practices.
   
• The initiative emphasises on the promotion of safe and appropriate hygiene practices in schools and behaviour among children.
   
• The schools are expected to comply with the following parameters to stand a chance to win: water, toilets for boys and girls, handwashing with soap, operations and maintenance, behaviour change in student activities and capacity building.