Gandhinagar, June 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) Gujarat has secured national recognition for 15 schools under the Centre's Swachh Evam Harit Vidyalaya Rating (SHVR) 2025-26 programme, with each selected institution set to receive a certificate and a grant of Rs one lakh to continue environmental and sustainability initiatives, government officials said on Thursday.
The programme, launched by the Ministry of Education as part of the fifth anniversary celebrations of the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, assesses schools on parameters related to cleanliness, environmental sustainability, safety and inclusivity.
The final list includes three schools from Rajkot, two each from Vadodara, Navsari and Porbandar, and one school each from Ahmedabad, Anand, Aravalli, Banaskantha, Valsad and Mehsana districts.
Gujarat schools secure national recognition under Centre's green and clean campus rating programme
State Project Director J. Ranjit Kumar said the selected schools would receive special certificates from Central government and financial assistance to sustain green practices and future environmental initiatives.
"The main objective of this programme is to provide schools with a clean, green, inclusive, safe and sustainable educational environment. Under NEP-2020, the assessment was carried out with the objective of bringing behavioural change, environmental sustainability and climate resilience among students and schools," he added.
According to the state Education authorities, schools were evaluated on a range of criteria, including access to water, sanitation facilities, handwashing with soap, operation and maintenance systems, behaviour change and capacity-building measures.
The assessment also considered activities undertaken under Mission LiFE, such as energy conservation, recycling and the operation of eco-clubs.
Kumar said more than 44,000 government, grant-in-aid and private schools across Gujarat registered for the programme and completed self-assessments.
He attributed the participation to efforts undertaken under the guidance of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the leadership of Education Minister Pradyuman Vaja and Minister of State for Education, Rivaba Jadeja.
The evaluation process involved a multi-tier verification mechanism.
At the district level, committees comprising nine members, including the District Collector as Chairperson, reviewed applications.
A state-level committee of 16 members, led by the State Project Director, subsequently carried out detailed cross-verification.
Following the verification process, 262 schools were shortlisted at the district level. From these, 20 schools from Ahmedabad, Anand, Aravalli, Banaskantha, Mehsana, Navsari, Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surat, Surendranagar, Vadodara and Valsad districts were selected at the state level.
Fifteen of those schools were then chosen for national-level certification under the SHVR 2025-26 programme.
Officials said the initiative is intended to encourage schools to adopt long-term sustainable practices while improving sanitation, environmental awareness and climate resilience within educational institutions.
Source: IANS
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