Vocational higher secondary education (VHSE) National Service Scheme (NSS) school units reached the first position in eight districts in the State as part of the ‘Swachh Bharat Summer Internship’ programme implemented by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Jal Shakti Ministry in 2019.
The VHSE NSS school units came second in two districts too.
The award recognises excellence in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan activities taken up by the NSS volunteers inside campuses and outside from June 10 to July 31 in the 2019-20 academic year.
There are 22 NSS cells across schools, colleges, and universities in the State. As part of the summer internship programme, the VHSE students were given activities to be taken up, and the outstanding among them were selected. These could include cleanliness activities and waste disposal inside the campus and literacy campaign on how to manage waste, green audit and so on outside the campus.
Besides routine green campus activities, ideas such as ‘pen bin,’ biodiversity park, waste collection for charity, daily thought presentation boards were some of the main activities taken up inside campuses. Outside the campuses, cleaning of public premises, heritage areas, setting up of public gardens near waste dumps, and road shows were taken up.
After a preliminary screening by the VHSE NSS, a committee led by the District Collector concerned selected one best activity of schools and nominated it to the Union government.
Green audit, done in association with the Suchitwa Mission, was among the best activities taken up by the NSS units. Students reached out to hundreds of houses as part of the green audit. LED bulb repair was also taken up widely in association with the Energy Management Centre as part of social asset creation. Some activities such as poster-making, street play, and so on were also taken up by schools.
The first prize of ₹30,000 were won by VHSE NSS units in eight districts. The win was secured by the VHSE school NSS units by competing against other directorates and universities in Kerala and Lakshadweep.
