New Delhi, September 18: Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday conferred the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017–18 upon 52 schools across the country. The award event took place at Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi today, as a part of the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 15.

The Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD, had launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar in 2016-17 to honour the schools that have done exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene.

Out of the 52 awardee schools, 37 schools are from rural areas and 15 from urban areas. 45 are government/government aided schools and 7 are private schools. Further, 24 are elementary and 28 are secondary/higher secondary schools. The schools also include 5 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and 2 Navodaya Vidyalayas. Each of the awardee schools will be given an additional school grant of Rs 50,000 along with Certificate of Recognition.

Schools were rated on five broad parameters of (i) Water (ii) Toilet (iii) Hand washing with Soap (iv) Operations and Maintenance (v) Behaviour Change and Capacity Building.

Four States (Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh) and 9 districts (Pondicherry, Srikakulam, Chandigarh, Hisar, Karaikal, Latur, Nellore, South Goa, Vadodara) were also awarded with Certificate of Recognition for having maximum number of schools awarded with National Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 18, 2018 12:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).