Keeping in mind the unavailability of the basic facility of toilets, Supreme Court has set a deadline of December 31 for the construction of toilets in all government run schools. The task would prove to be formidable as nearly 45 per cent of the schools in the country lack toilet facilities. The apex court had pulled up state governments and union territories earlier for not providing toilets, particularly for girls, in all government run schools.
As per the statistics collected by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) for 2009-10, of the 1048046 schools, only 54.46 per cent have toilet facility. Nearly 25 per cent girls’ toilets are non-functional. The percentage of functional girls’ toilets is low in some states, including Andhra Pradesh (27.55), Bihar (50.53), Jharkhand (53.21), Meghalaya (46.58), Nagaland (29.76) and Odisha (44.06). As per NUEPA data, over 80 per cent schools are located in rural areas and 8 per cent of these lack drinking water facility.