Broom in one hand and a bucket in another, students of different city schools stepped up to make the roads, ghats and their surroundings clean before Chhath and Diwali.

The children have launched a drive to urge residents to keep the city clean.

Students of The Tribhuvan School on Wednesday cleaned Kali Ghat(behind Darbhanga House) and also staged a street play to spread awareness about the importance of a clean environment. The programme was organised under the Heritage Club of the school. Club coordinator Rekha Kapoor and Shristi Simon, along with the kids, formed a human chain and raised slogans.

Niharika, a Class IX student of The Tribhuvan School, said: "It is our first experience of taking part in an initiative to save the Ganga and I feel proud. We swept the ghat and collected polythene and other waste products."?

About 32 students of classes III to X took part in the initiative.

A large number of devotees congregate at the banks of the Ganga to pray to the Sun god on Chhath.

Mt Carmel High School on Tuesday formed a human chain and distributed pamphlets with messages about saving the environment. The students swept the campus and a part of Bailey Road from the campus to Patna High Court.

The principal of the school, Sister M. Sujata, said imbibing good habits from an early age was an ideal way to safeguard the future of the planet. "It is our responsibility to ensure that we leave our planet in a better shape than when we found it. We can protect our natural surroundings for a healthy body and mind with the help of responsible adults and children," she said.

Several schools have planned activities for students before the Diwali and Chhath break. Eco Club of St Michael's High School organised a presentation on biodiversity under the guidance of Tarumitra (a non-government organisation) and the screening of a documentary Ganga - The Soil of India.

"Children are the best medium to spread any kind of message and the involvement of schoolchildren has left an everlasting impression on the people," said school principal Peter Arockiasamy. The school also organised an inter-school PowerPoint presentation to spread the message of a clean environment.

Radiant International School conducted a special Assembly Safai Abhiyan. "Students, along with the teachers, cleaned the sabzi mandi (vegetable market) near Danapur railway station and staged a nukkad natak (street play) to show how people were degrading the environment," said M.S. Rahman, the principal.

Students also took part in a slogan writing competition.

A Class VIII student of the school, Aman Kumar, said: "Why can't we keep the river, roads and public places clean like our homes? Why do we only keep them clean during festivals?"