Cleanliness: Enhances pupils’ performance

“THE right to a clean and safe environment should be regarded as a basic human right. To effectively guarantee this right, the citizens’ right to learn environmental information and to participate in environmental protection should be included in the constitution.–Jin Zhiguo

This line by Jin Zhiguo relates with the Republic Act No. 9512 or the environmental awareness education act and Republic Act No. 9003, which provides for an ecological solid waste management program of the government.

Cleanliness in the classroom, school surroundings has excellent effects on the teachers as well as the pupils and whoever may visit the school. The essential benefits of a clean school are better learning environment which helps in the mindset of learners, more interactive teaching-learning process, less distraction in a way that clean classroom contributes good health to learners that would lessen absenteeism, lack of concentration, and poor health which are detrimental to learners’ learning experience. Research shows that a clean school makes less stressful working environment. The better a teacher performs, the better his or her learners will perform.

Nancy Banas-e, the school principal of Celo Haight Elementary School and the teachers firmly adhere in the RA 9512 and RA 9003 because they believe that cleanliness helps develop and enhance the holistic well-being of a learner.

Thus, in respond to the government programs, on June 2018 up to the present, the different organizations and clubs organized the clean and green agenda of the school. Various zones were assigned to the different grade levels as their area to clean and maintain.

With the explanation of the teachers on the effects of a dirty school environment, the pupils actively took their turns in cleaning the school compound.

On Jan. 30, 2019, the school was lucky to be granted a talk about RA 9003with speakers from the Province of Benguet. The information dissemination was a successful one because the speakers demonstrated on the solid waste management, which was followed by a return demonstration by the pupils and the effects of noncompliance to these RAs were also thoroughly discussed.

The pupils throughout the school year actively participated in the clean-up drive program of the school. Though they were not able to perfect the solid waste management as demonstrated to them by the provincial personnel, at least they have something to continue for the next school year and for better implementation of the robust waste management program.

The clean and green program of the school made a significant impact on the daily routine of the pupils, specifically in cleaning the classroom and surroundings which helped in some ways in the improvement of their performance. With this, the school needs to develop a consistently high standard of cleanliness to ensure that the learners experience the best possible environment for learning.