Swachhata Pakhwada

“A clean India would be the best tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019” said the honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The swachhata Mission was launched on October 2, 2014 and aims to achieve the vision of clean India by October 2, 2019.

As per the directives of the CBSE Board and keeping in mind, the Swachh Bharat Mission, various activities were carried out in Carmel School, Mangaluru. As part of Swachhata Pakhwada, a theme based special assembly was organized in the school, the students and staff of the entire school participated in Mass-pledge taking ceremony. All the participants took a pledge to devote at least 100 hours per year to voluntarily work for cleanliness.

An essay writing competition themed “cleanliness and hygiene practices in school, was organized as part of Swachhata Pakwada Programme. The best essays were awarded. The next activity under Swachhata Pakwada was painting competition for the students to create awareness among students and also to evoke their perception of cleanliness in the form of art.

Students enthusiastically participated in the cleanliness drive and planted variety of plants around the school. The teachers of the school, created awareness and highlighted the importance of cleanliness and sanitation to the students. The significance of three R’s : Reduce, Recycle and Reuse were stressed and they also explained about the vital need of systematic waste management. Blue and green coloured dustbins were placed in the school.

The initiative of Swachhata Pakwada was carried forward by a cleanliness drive. The students of class IX and the Guides visited Bengre, a place near the beach. They interacted with the locals and gave awareness about cleanliness through a speech and a streetplay. The Princpal, teachers, students along with the Corporator and the local representatives actively participated in the cleanliness drive.

The teachers taught the students about the hygienic manner of using toilets, drinking water, checking wastage of water, water borne diseases, storage of water and safe drinking water.

The Swachhata Pakhwada Programme was very thought provoking and insightful as it reinstated the importance of clean and green environment.