Three years after the Kerala government made it mandatory for all schools in the state to have a toilet on the premises, students in at least half the schools go without the basic facilities. A majority of school toilets are in disuse due to either a lack of repair or simply a lack of cleaning, a survey of 140 schools has found.
A government school in Palakkad district has built hardly 15 toilets for 2,200 students!
Not even half the schools have complied with a 2016 order from the local self-government bodies to build toilets with running water facility along with sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators to burn the napkins. The survey was conducted by Malayala Manorama in 10 schools picked from each district.
Though schools are supposed to build a toilet for every 50 students, a lot more students are forced to depend on a toilet. The survey suggests that follow-up action was missing despite an exemplary initiative by the government to ensure there were enough toilets for the students.
Performers and non-performers
The Malappuram district was the best-performing in the survey, with nine out of the 10 schools having built and maintained enough toilets. The higher secondary schools had enough toilets but high schools were lacking in the basic facilities. Schools in the coastal areas were also neglected.
The Kannur district panchayat has launched a ‘She Toilet’ program in 52 schools where girls are in a majority. The toilets come with sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators. They have been entrusted with contractors to maintain and clean the facilities.
The Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at Nadakkavu in Kozhikode have arranged a washroom for every class, 90 in all. Not more than 27 students are required to rely on a single washroom. The school has a common incinerator and smaller incinerators attached to each washroom. Napkins are distributed free of cost.
The SRV Model Higher Secondary School in Ernakulam and the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at Agali in Palakkad are also models worth emulating.
The school in Ernakulam has enough washrooms. The Kochi Metro has built more washrooms for the students in the school. The washrooms are cleaned regularly. The napkin vending machines and incinerators are also working properly.
The Agali school has 38 washrooms for the 2,100 schools. A dozen of them are being built. All of them come equipped with napkin vending machines and incinerators. The school has been cited as a model by the central government.
Government schools at Mukkam in Kozhikode and Mannarkad in Palakkad were among the least-clean. The government high school at Neeleswaram near Mukkam had only 18 washrooms for 850 boys and girls. Even they are left stinking.
The situation is even worth in the government higher secondary school at Thenkara near Mannarkad, where 2,200 students share 15 washrooms. The washrooms are dirty and lacking in vending machines and incinerators.
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