MoS for education Subhas Sarkar launches Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021-22

NEW DELHI: The Minister of State for education, Subhas Sarkar virtually launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) 2021-22 today, January 12. The event was attended by Anita Karwal, Secretary (School education and Learning), and representatives from all states and union territories (UTs) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

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The SVP 2021-22 is open to all categories of schools including government, government-aided and private schools in both rural and urban areas. The schools will be assessed through an online portal and mobile app in 6 sub-categories:

• Water
• Sanitation
• Hand Washing with soap
• Operation and Maintenance
• Behaviour Change and Capacity Building
• Preparedness and Response (the newly added category on COVID-19)

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The system will generate the overall score and rating of schools on these categories automatically. The schools can apply till March 2022 for the awards.

At the national level, 40 schools will be selected for awards in 2021-22 under the overall category. The award money for the schools has been increased from Rs 50,000 from last year to Rs 60,000 per school, under the Samagra Shiksha scheme.

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Also, 6 sub-category wise awards have been introduced for the first time, with award money of Rs 20,000 per school.

Schools shall be awarded at the district, state and national level based on an internationally recognized five star rating system. Along with that, every school will get a certificate of participation showing the category-wise scores and overall rating of the school.

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Sarkar while launching the awards underlined the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in schools as these factors play an important role in determining the health of students, their attendance, dropout rate, and learning outcomes. The provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools secures a healthy school environment and protects children from illness (including COVID-19) and exclusion, he added.