Perambalur Government school bags national award for sanitation, hygiene practices

Pues Siluvaicheri primary school in Andimadam village block in Permbalur received the award for not only maintaining hygienic toilets for children but also ensuring proper drinking water facilities for them.

The school came in for appreciation for setting up an Reverse Osmosis drinking water facility and a bore well within the premises. It also set up rainwater harvesting facilities to recharge the groundwater table. With these initiatives, the school was able to provide more than 1.5 litres of drinking water per student every day, which was maintained throughout the year.

In addition, the Pues Siluvaicheri school also maintained separate hand wash area for the students, where soaps were available all the time. 

Even though the students are at the elementary level, the management maintained separate toilets for boys and girls, with ramp, handrail, wide door for wheelchair entry and support structure inside them.

The MHRD panel, which visited the school along with the district collector, took the operation and maintenance of the facilities, with behaviour change and capacity-building, into consideration and gave it a national evaluation score of 90.5 per cent.

According to the evaluation, the school classrooms were well maintained and has a library with more than 500 books. The school received five-star rating with a certificate of recognition.

The Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar award was instituted by the Centre to ensure that all schools have access to separate, functional toilets for boys and girls. The initiative also has its emphasis on promoting safe and appropriate hygiene practices in schools and behaviour among children.