Bengaluru: Going to school is hard for students of the Shantiniketan School in Viveknagar, who are welcomed by the stink of rotting garbage every day.
Located in a slum, the school is filled with the stench of garbage and mosquitoes and flies which the students spend time swatting while in the classrooms.
But come Friday and change could be on the way. Taking responsibility for their plight, the students will begin painting the walls of their school, removing garbage from their surroundings and teaching the slumdwellers how not to deal with their garbage.
If all goes well, the day could see the beginning of a transformation not only in the lives of these children, but nearly 10,000 students in the city, who will take fledgling steps in making their neighbourhoods cleaner and better places to live in.
Students of nearly 220 schools are readying to join the battle against littering in the city by picking up brooms and cleaning the streets themselves encouraged by the ‘I Change My Street’ campaign of local NGO, Janaagraha, which has planned it in true spirit of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Excited to be a part of the one-day campaign which aims at creating awareness about cleanliness and engaging citizens in keeping the city clean, Ms Mary T.L, principal of Shanthiniketan, Viveknagar, says the students will create the change they want to see.
“As our school is located in a slum we want to create awareness among the slumdwellers about the need to keep their surroundings clean. The students are happy to carry out this transformation.
This is an opportunity for all of us to be true citizens,” she declares. Over 50 students and 25 parents will represent Shanthiniketan in the drive.
‘I Change My Street’ will be carried out simultaneously in all parts of the city between 7 am and 1 pm. with the local corporators, MLAs and MPs too chipping in in their respective wards. The students’ brigade will take over the streets between 9 am and 1 pm.
Pointing to the 25,000 registrations and 1,500 complaints received in three weeks, Major General K.R Prasad of Janaagraha, calls the response to the drive phenomenal. “Around 200 schools that are a part of ‘Bala Janaagraha’ will be involved in the drive.
We hope it will create enough awareness to ensure that cleanliness is adopted as a way of life by Bengalureans all through the year,” he says. ‘I Change My Street’ will be an annual affair in the city every November 7.
