Integrating School Cleanliness into Environmental Character Development

Abstract

School cleanliness plays a vital and multidimensional role in shaping students’ environmental care character and overall moral development. A clean and well-maintained school environment not only improves physical health and learning comfort but also functions as a living laboratory for fostering responsibility, discipline, and environmental awareness. This study aims to explore in depth the relationship between school cleanliness and the formation of environmental care character among elementary school students. Using the Systematic Literature Review approach, the research synthesizes findings from various empirical and theoretical studies published within the past five years to identify effective strategies, influencing factors, and challenges related to cleanliness-based character education. The results indicate that consistent and well-structured cleanliness programs, teacher role modeling, and active student engagement significantly contribute to strengthening students’ sense of environmental stewardship. Moreover, integrating character values into curricula, extracurricular activities, and school management systems has proven to be an effective approach for cultivating environmentally responsible behavior from an early age.