The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) will be ranking higher educational institutes based on three headers for their upcoming ‘Swacchata Ranking’ 2017. Institutes participating in the rankings will be gauged on the basis of overall cleanliness, hygiene, and availability of basic sanitation facilities. In a first of its kind ranking, higher educational institutes and colleges are asked to provide the details regarding the cleanliness facilities they provide for the students.

Talking to PaGaLGuY, V Subba Rao, Economic Advisor of the Union HRD ministry and in-charge of the Swachhata Rankings 2017, mentioned that this initiative will force institutes to take the cleanliness of their campuses more seriously. “Many institutes will take stock of their facility first before taking part. It will create peer pressure among the higher education institutes and will aid them in improving the overall hygiene of their institute,” said Subba Rao.

However, reaching out to a huge number of higher education institutes in the country would not be an easy task. To make them aware of the ranking, e-mails and short messages will be sent to the institutes. “Along with the e-mails, social media will also be used to connect with over 38000 registered colleges under Central, State and Deemed universities, to make them aware of the ranking,” added Subba Rao.

It will be interesting to see the comparison between institutes which are heavily funded by the Government against the one which is not. . “Bigger institutes like IITs and NITs will definitely take part and those not taking part will be probed by the ministry to find the reason why they have opted out from the ranking,” informed Subba Rao. The process of registering colleges begins today, July 20, 2017, and will go until July 31, 2017.

Higher education institutes participating in the ranking will also have to provide and rate their toilet and hygiene facilities in the form, which will then be scrutinised by a team in the month of August 2017. “Depending on the responses from the colleges, we will create the teams who will visit the colleges for verification. Officials from AICTE and UGC will be given the responsibility to regulate the visits and prepare the ranking,” added Subba Rao. Higher education institutes getting top ranks will be awarded in the month of September by the Ministry of HRD.

Referring it to be a better option than asking for yearly updates and photographs on cleanliness from the colleges, Subba Rao feels that the ranking system will make the institutes more proactive. “The objective of the ranking is to spread day to day awareness about hygiene so that the national object of Swacchata can get into the psyche of these institutes,” concluded Subba Rao.