New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar on Wednesday launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) for 2021-22.

The minister underlined the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in Schools saying they play a significant role in determining the health of students, their attendance, dropout rate, and learning outcomes.

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"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 said.

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"The Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar recognises, inspire and award the schools who have undertaken exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene and also provides a benchmark and roadmap for schools to make further improvements in future," he added.

In order to create self-motivation and awareness about sanitation, the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) was first instituted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, in 2016-17.

The SVP 2021-22 is open to all categories of schools in both rural and urban areas. The schools will be assessed through an online portal and mobile app in six sub-categories: Water, Sanitation, Hand Washing with soap, Operation and Maintenance, Behaviour Change and Capacity Building and the newly added category on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response and the system will generate the overall score and rating automatically.

The schools have been given sufficient time till March 2022 to apply for the awards so that they can do so at an appropriate and safe time, officials said.

"Schools shall be awarded at the district, state and national level based on an internationally recognized five star rating system. Also, every school will get a certificate of participation showing the category-wise scores and overall rating of the school. This will help in promoting sustainable practices of improved hygiene schools," a senior Ministry of Education (MoE) official said.

At the National level, 40 schools will be selected for awards this year under the overall category. The award money for the schools has been enhanced this year from Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per school, under Samagra Shiksha scheme. Also, six sub-category wise awards have been introduced for the first time, with award money of Rs 20,000 per school.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)