manish kumar
post news network
New Delhi, August 29: A recent study on sanitation and hygiene levels in government schools has revealed the sorry state of affairs in Orissa.
The study conducted by international charity organisation WaterAid claims that 61 per cent of the government schools in Orissa do not have separate toilets for girls and boys, thus forcing school children to adopt unhygienic practices.
In fact, Orissa has come as the worst performing state in terms of paucity of separate toilets under the study conducted in over 450 government schools across nine states. Over 800 teachers and 4,800 students were interviewed during the survey.
According to the same study on an average, a single toilet is used by 76 boys while 66 girls have to depend on one washroom.
The study comes two years after the ministry of human resource development (HRD) launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan to ensure separate toilets for boys and girls in schools.
Last year, the Union government announced construction of 4.17 lakh toilets in 2.61 lakh schools in the country under the campaign.
The guidelines for the same mandate at least one toilet for every 40 students. But the study claims there is merely one toilet for every 76 male students.
In the study, Karnataka closely follows Orissa as the second worst among the nine states.
The Centre’s campaign for Swachh Vidyalaya mandates menstrual hygiene management facilities including soap, adequate and private space for changing, adequate water for washing cloth and disposal facilities for menstrual waste, including an incinerator and dust bins among others.
The programme also calls for inculcating the habits of washing hands to avert chances of infection and also seeks better drinking water facilities at government schools.
