To galvanise school students into civic and social activism, a science teacher has come up with a simple but interesting concept: ‘My School Road’.
Prakash Vaithyanathan, a science teacher at M.C.T.M. Chidambaram Chettiar International School on Luz Church Road, Mylapore, is promoting this idea, which entails efforts by students to keep their road near their school clean. Students should take up the responsibility of cleaning the thoroughfare once in a week.
“It is our duty to keep our city clean. We can start in a simple way. If every school comes forward to encourage its students to keep the school road clean, we can have a clean and healthy environment,” Prakash said.
Sense of belonging
“Through this concept, I am trying to establish a sense of belonging. I hope every school in India comes forward to implement the concept. I want to make people remember their school road, which is a meeting point for students, before and after school hours.”
Recently, Prakash and a set of school students from Chidambaram Chettiar International School cleaned a section of Luz Church Road, an effort that received appreciation from the locals.
Prakash said that Vikram Kapoor, Commissioner, Chennai Corporation, had called this a ‘laudable initiative’. “He advised me to follow the protocol in obtaining permission from the authorities concerned before proceeding to clean the entire road,” he added.
Prakash Vaithyanathan can be contacted at 9500079411
