"Support My School Initiative"is now taking up "Mission 1000" that aims to revitalize 1000 schools in India. Support My school is one of the most effective campaigns running in the education sector of India. This programme is run by the alliance of Coca-Cola India, NDTV and other NGO partners.
Aims and Initiatives of Support My School
Support My School is a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) initiative by the alliance of Coca-Cola India, NDTV and other NGO partners for the development of the government schools in India . It focuses on spreading awareness of education and providing basic amenities in schools. The programme aims to improve access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities etc. and focus on the improvement of overall infrastructure of schools.
The alliance of Coca-Cola India, NDTV and CAF launched "Support My School" campaign in 2011 to provide a cleaner and healthier environment for learning and development in government schools. It undertakes the following core activities.
· Appropriate sanitation facility for boys and girls.
· Improvement in the overall school infrastructure and environment.
· Provision for sports and recreation facilities.
· Recharging ground water through rain water harvesting.
Main Achievements
· The programme enhanced community engagement
· Increased attendance rate
· Dropout rates reduced significantly
· Increased new enrolments in school from 6.95% to 14.77%
Our Education Sector Needs Improvement
Our schools in the rural and urban areas still lack access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. Lack of these basic amenities is the main reason for absenteeism, especially among girls. At this point, India faces large dropout rates in the lower levels of education. This has to be brought down. The primary step towards that is providing cleaner, healthier and better basic amenities in these schools. By creating awareness on the importance of education and providing these basic amenities to all schools, we can make a positive difference to the life of children and give them a bright future.
Education opens doors to the youth, and hands them the keys to the future. Therefore, it is up to us to ensure that this process takes place most efficiently and in the best way possible. This process elevates the standards of education in all aspects, and also induces a simultaneous improvement in the morale and health of the children.
SWachh Bharath Mission in Schools
The Swachh Bharath Abhiyan, aims to accomplish the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October, 2019. This campaign has to take effect in all sectors and all walks of life. Therefore, it is important that such undertakings are carried out in schools in India to support and promote the campaign and educate the children about the importance of keeping personal hygiene. Better schools result in better youth, and better youth ultimately results in a better future for the country, which should be our ultimate aim.
Taking this Support My School Initiative and its activities as a working model, other such partnerships and organizations should forefront to make India a cleaner, healthier and better educated country.