Sri Aurobindo Society was approached by the Chennai Division of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India asking us to carry out online competitions for school children on the occasion of the World Tourism Day (27^th September 2020) and Swachhata Week culminating on 2^nd October 2020. Due to paucity of time, Sri Aurobindo Society proposed to conduct both the events parallel from 27^th September to 3^rd October 2020. Also to make the programme more inclusive, SAS proposed to carry out offline competitions in the villages of Puducherry so that rural children are deprived of the opportunity due to lack of access to online connectivity.

The Ministry of Tourism immediately accepted the proposal and gave the approval to go ahead. Along with us the Directorate of Tourism, School Education and Local Administration, Govt. of Puducherry also graciously accepted to be collaborators in the project.  This helped to have wide reach-out in a short time and also helped in creating institutional linkages.  Through the Directorate of School Education, the invitation for the online competitions were sent to all the government and private schools in Puducherry through email and also through Whatsapp groups of teachers. Apart from the email and Whatsapp communication, social networks (Facebook/Web-portal) were also used to share the information widely in a short span of time.

Outreach:

Through the programme Sri Aurobindo Society has created a wonderful outreach with the following Departments/Organization/groups.

1. Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.
2. Directorate of School Education, Govt of Puducherry.
3. Directorate of Tourism, Govt. of Puducherry
4. Directorate of Local Administration, Govt. of Puducherry.
5. Government and Private Schools (See list in Annexure)
6. SARVAM, Sri Aurobindo Society.
7. Thulir Children’s Science Clubs, Puducherry.
8. Udhavi Karangal Boy’s Home (Orphanage for Street Children)
9. Udhavi Karangal Girls Home (Orphanage for Street Children)
10. Satya Special School (Children with Special Needs/Disabilities)

Participation Details:

There were four categories of events organized in each of the Tourism and Swachhata Week celebrations.  Around 763 entries from over 77 schools which included government and private schools, members of the children science clubs, special needs children took enthusiastic participation in the event.

A total of 176 entries had come for the Tourism week celebration from the students and the details are below:

A total of 587 entries had come for the Swachhata Week Awareness Programme from the students and the details are below:

Online Webinar on Swachhata – Swachhata for a Better Self and a Better Tomorrow:

Apart from the online competitions that were held, an online webinar was held on the October 6, 2020 on the topic “Swachhata- For a better Self and a Better Tomorrow.”  Two experts, Dr. F. Jayachandran and Mr.T.P.Raghunath facilitated the webinar.  They both touched upon the general objectives of Swachhata and how individual and collective actions can lead to a better tomorrow. They suggested various options that children and community can take up to create a clean neighbourhood that would protect the entire society from diseases, pollution, and disasters.

Conclusion:

Overall, the programme, though organized at very short notice had a remarkable participation of about 763 participants over both the events. Children from various backgrounds took part in these events.  Students of Government Schools and Private Schools, children from the orphanages and children with special needs, and children from rural as well urban background participated making this all inclusive and highly-successful event.