SINGAPORE — The Keep Singapore Clean Movement in schools was launched today (July 29) to get students to take ownership of the cleanliness of their school and the environment. The initiative was first announced at the 7th Teachers’ Conference in June, and requires students to help keep the places they frequent clean.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, who launched the movement, said many parents had urged him to bring back the Use Your Hands campaign to schools.

“These student-initiated activities are a very important aspect of encouraging them to take ownership of the community. We hope that through student-initiated activities, the values that underpin this will be much more deeply internalised and at the same time, we can tap the creativity and ideas of the students to be advocates of cleanliness and environment protection,” said Mr Heng.

The Education Minister also joined Secondary Three students at Woodgrove Secondary School to scrub the boys’ toilet today.

Earlier this month, these students conducted surveys around the school to gather information about the cleanliness situation in the neighbourhood. They shared their findings today and brainstormed ideas on how to have a more pleasant living environment.

The Public Hygiene Council will support schools by providing necessary resources such as this litter-picking toolkit containing tongs and gloves. The Keep Singapore Clean movement will be rolled out to all primary, secondary, centralised institutes and junior colleges.

“I believe that we should start young because from young, we can inculcate the values of responsibility and care towards the environment. So from here, we can spread the message of the importance of maintaining cleanliness in Singapore to our friends and family,” said Haziq Shukur, Green Club President at Woodgrove Secondary School. CHANNEL NEWSASIA