PRAJWALA- SWACHH BALIKA SWACHH VIDYALAYA

National Evaluation undertaken by ‘Education for all in India’ pointed towards the problem being faced by Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBVs) pertaining to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). Since girls are a vulnerable category and need to develop an understanding of hygiene and sanitation practices, Rajasthan Elementary Education Council and National Stock Exchange Foundation developed a comprehensive WASH intervention in KGBVs from July 2019. The project, ‘Prajwala’- Swachh Balika Swachh Vidyalaya is a model project on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in KGBVs. This comprehensive WASH intervention in KGBVs is a joint initiative of Rajasthan Elementary Education Council and National Stock Exchange Foundation. It was further supported by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) as the knowledge and implementation partner and UNICEF as the technical partner.

The project is being run in 200 KGBVs across Rajasthan, which are residential schools set up by Government of India for girls from marginalised communities belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and girls below the poverty line and residing in difficult remote areas of Rajasthan.

Phase wise roll out was adopted for the field level implementation with 72 schools in first phase and 128 schools in second phase. The programme is being run by two approaches: self-implementation in 29 schools by CEE and implementation by local partners in 171 schools. Urmul Seemant Samiti is implementing the intervention in Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu and Bikaner.