Cleanliness pledge by 1,00,000 rural children

​New Delhi: More than 1,00,000 students and 4500 teachers along with local community members, took the “Cleanliness Pledge” in the ceremony organised by Bharti Foundation on Monday in 254 Satya Bharti Schools and 300 government schools, supported by Satya Bharti Quality Support Programme, across 550 villages in 11 states. The ceremony marked the start of the year-long initiatives by Satya Bharti Programmes, to support “Swachhata Hi Seva 2018” movement, initiated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The pledge ceremony was organised to energise students to pursue hygiene habits in their lifestyle and maintain the cleanliness in their surroundings. The ceremony was followed by “Awareness Rallies” conducted by Satya Bharti School students in their villages with message of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene. Bharti Foundation also launched a manual on “School Swachhata and Hygiene Education” and formed a 10-member student committee across 254 schools to raise awareness on the best practices of cleanliness and hygiene. 

The year-long initiatives by Satya Bharti Programmes will encourage the students and teachers to spread the awareness on sanitation and hygiene by using diverse channels of communication, ranging from interactive banners to energetic rallies. The initiative will be further strengthened and scaled up by celebrating all important days related to cleanliness and including “Swachhata”themes in school events like Rang Tarang, Sports Day, Independence Day and Republic Day this year till October 2, 2019.

Bharti Foundation has been working in the area of rural sanitation since 2014. The Foundation’s programme ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ achieved the distinction of having delivered more than 18,000 household toilets and continues to work with Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, Amritsar to encourage the community to maintain the cleanliness and hygiene of the toilets. 

In 2015, the concerted efforts of Satya Bharti School students resulted in building of 3100 toilets in a period of 6 months. Under its Satya Bharti Quality Support Program, Bharti Foundation has empowered student leaders of Government schools to undertake community as well as school-based cleanliness campaigns.