Students Lead the Voice of Swachh Bharat

KOCHI:

To spread awareness on the importance of cleanliness and effective waste management, Young Indians (Yi), the youth wing of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), organized an interschool short skit contest amongst Upper Primary (UP) and High School (HS) students on the theme of Swachh Bharat. The Finals of the Yi Swachh Bharat Interschool Short Skit Contest was held on 16 February 2017 at the Vyttila Mobility Hub, Kochi.
The contest was held at the Vytilla Mobility Hub so that the general public can view it and the message is communicated to them also. This is the first time that a skit contest was organized in a mobility hub and over 200 students participated in the finals. The programme was inaugurated by Sakunthala (aged 55yrs), the oldest employee of the Vytilla Mobility Hub who is responsible for keeping the hub clean and tidy. The students and the audience of the contest also pledged to keep their country and their premises clean and tidy.
Over 200 schools have been covered as part of the contest and over 50,000 students have been impacted as all the participating teams had presented the skits in their school assemblies in the initial round, informed Akhilesh Agarwal, Chair, Yi Kochi chapter. In the finals, the First, second and third prizes in the Upper Primary section was won by Amrita Vidyalayam, St Joseph’s Public School, Thottua and CMI Chavara Darsan school respectively. And in the High school section, Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, Joe Mount Public School and ACS ENHSS, Kaloor won the first, second and third prizes respectively. Bhavans Munshi Vidyasram, Amrita Vidyalayam and St Joseph’s Public School, Thottua were recognized for the work they had done in keeping the premises of their schools clean and were awarded the prize for Yi Kochi Swachh Vidyalaya 2017. Hibi Eden, MLA and Dr Renu Raj, Assistant Collector, Ernakulam district were the guests of honour and they distributed the prizes to the winners. Hibi Eden congratulated Yi for its efforts to spread awareness on such noble causes and Renu Raj appreciated the efforts taken by the students to put up such a good show. The skit contest was supported by Wonderla and K. Chittilappilly Foundation
The participants of the skit contest also went a step forward in spreading the message of reducing noise pollution by working as ambassadors of the Yi campaign against unnecessary honking- Horn Not OK Please (HNOP). Students went around the entire hub and stuck stickers carrying the message of HNOP on all the buses and autorikshaws parked in the hub.
Yi also launched its Carbin project during the programme. To encourage vehicle goers not to discard wrappers or any waste materials on the roads and collect it in a bag and dispose it off in the waste bins once they are back home, the car bin project was initiated. The Car Bins can be conveniently hung to the seats of cars/ autorikshaws and waste can be easily stored in it while commuting from one place to another.
Yi Kochi chapter and its members also committed to fund the education of girl students

in three schools in Ernakulam through an E Waste campaign. The Kochi chapter of Yi is organizing the E-waste Campaign to spread awareness on the importance of handling E waste in a scientific manner. The E-Waste campaign will primarily involve collecting E-waste from various organizations and institutions across the state of Kerala and selling it to an organization who will dispose the E-waste in a scientific manner. The chapter would use the money collected through the sales of the E-waste to educate girl students from relatively lesser privileged backgrounds in the forthcoming year.