NEW DELHI: Catching them young is the North civic body’s mantra. In order to inculcate proper sanitation and hygiene habits, the North civic body has decided to make all children currently enrolled in its primary schools ‘Swachhta Ambassadors’.The decision was taken by Mayor North MCD Adesh Gupta on the event of Children’s Day on November 14.
“All Municipal School students will be made brand ambassadors for Swachhta. The teachers have a prime role in providing cultural and moral values along with education to students, so that we create a great future for India. The corporation is providing best education facilities to its students for their brighter future,” said Gupta. The MCD has also decided to increase the amount of scholarship from `500 to `1000 for Standard 4 students, and `700 to `1,000 for Class 5 students earlier.
More than three lakh children currently study in the primary schools. Every year, around 4,000 students are selected for scholarship, but now that limit has been changed to 4,000 each for the two sections. There are around 716 schools under the jurisdiction of North civic body. “We believe, if the students are taught proper waste disposal, not defecate in the open and the harmful effects on our environment, then it will have a very large impact on the society,” said an official.
Although, the broad details are not clear on whether the students will be given any training or not, “the announcement has just been made”, an official said. “The modalities are being worked out. Through the children, the MCD will be able to send the message of cleanliness to the households,” added the official.
The North civic body, which is the largest of all the three municipal corporations, secured the 206th position from the earlier rank of 279 in the Swachh Survekshan, 2018.
Cleanliness Mission with a cause
Launched on Gandhi Jayanti in 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas. The target year for the Mission is from 2014 to 2019.