Students are 'cleanliness ambassadors' and in future will lead the PM Narendra Modi's vision of clean India, said Prakash Javadekar while speaking on the occasion of 2017-18 national award ceremony.
He stressed on the need of the cleanliness in the country and said that it is high time that we all change our mindset and inculcate the habit of cleanliness in order to keep and make the country clean.
He congratulated the winners of the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 and said that from next year the competition will also be open to the private schools.
A statement from the ministry said "This year 2,68,402 schools from both central and state governments participated voluntarily in the competition which is in itself an achievement and a beginning of 'New India'".
In the national competition 35 states and UTs participated in an online mode.
After the participation, these schools were evaluated and awarded at the district and state levels. A total of 643 schools participated in the competition out which 172 schools were selected for the National awards for Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2016-17.
Each winner school is given a price of INR 50,000 as a additional grant which they can utilize in the activities related to 'swachhta'.
National level awards to the concerned District Collectors/District Education Officers of 11 districts with highest number of participation were also given.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan were declared as the top three states with maximum number of schools in Five Star and Four star ratings.