British school uses Japanese practice and puts students to help with cleaning

A primary school in the city of Totnes, England, decided to have students clean their own classrooms. every day, in an attempt to teach young people about responsibility and lower cleaning costs in the institution.

The Grove School has purchased ten vacuum cleaners so that one student from each class can volunteer to clean every day. The principal, Hilary Priest, suggested the cleaning policy after discovering the tradition in Japanese schools.

According to the director, the idea is to teach students about how the classroom space should be preserved. After the new policy was put in place, the school did not need to employ any extra cleaners other than the site janitor.

“We thought it was a good way to make sure the kids were preserving our school and respecting the environment,” she said.

Priest highlighted that the institution's children, aged between four and 11 years, are excited about the new activity and that he hopes that this activity will encourage the little ones to help their parents around the house also.