Soon, the idea of Swachh Bharat (Clean India) will make an entry into the classrooms of every school and college of Mysuru to drive home the message of hygiene.
Mysuru had recently bagged the ‘cleanest city’ tag under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The top-ranked Swachh city is inching towards keeping the coveted tag unbroken, roping in school and college students in a big way.
The Mission had completed one year of its launch.
Guidelines received
This month, the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), which had received certain guidelines on taking the philosophy of Swachh Bharat further, had set a target of reaching the ‘Swachh’ agenda among two lakh school and college students here.
Under the Mission, the schools and colleges had been advised to encourage the students to take cleanliness pledge this month.
MCC Commissioner C.G. Betsurmath recently held a meeting with the officials from the departments of public instruction, collegiate education, pre-university education and libraries and apprised them on how the schools, colleges and libraries can spread the cleanliness message and be the ambassadors of change.
Posters for classrooms, cafeterias, common areas, washrooms, and infographics had been given to the local bodies for distribution among the schools and colleges.
Suggestions
Dr. Betsurmath told The Hindu that the ‘Swachh Bharat’ templates had been forwarded to all schools and colleges and they had been asked to implement suggestions for making their premises Swachh and in turn the city clean.
MCC to sponsor
The MCC has resolved to sponsor some posters and stickers.
The departments had been requested to get the posters printed on their own for distribution among the schools and colleges. The commissioner said steps had been taken to translate the text in posters and also in the pledge into Kannada.
“The posters have been very striking and meaningful. They drive home the message for which the Abhiyan had been launched,” he explained.
The text in the posters meant for classrooms are like this – dispose of trash in the dustbin; keep your desks and drawers clean; keep the walls scribble free and keep the classrooms free from littered food.
The message for the students for following it at home are - take showers everyday; wear clean shoes; cut your hair and nails regularly to look neat and use a handkerchief whenever necessary.
In cafeteria posters, the students had been asked to wash their hands with soap before and after eating; ensure minimum spillage of food; keep the dirty dishes separately and avoid washing or throwing food.
The posters meant for pasting at the toilets read like this – always wash your hands with soap before and after going to the toilet; always flush after use; always keep the toilet area clean after use and dispose sanitary napkins in the dustbins.
