Government schools will soon be up in their toilet hygiene game as students are about to experience a new and upgraded version of toilets. The state government’s Education Department has asked all civic bodies to assure clean toilets for girls in government schools.
Not just this, toilets have to be equipped with lights, buckets, mugs, soaps, mirrors, hooks to hand bags and dustbins. Principal secretary of the School Education Department, Vandana Krishna has written a letter to all the civic bodies in regards to the toilet facilities for girls in civic-running schools.
The letter written on 5th April said, “There are a total of 66,750 such schools (government and civic-run), out of which 65,103 schools have separate girls’ toilets. But because they are not kept clean, many remain non-functional. This adds to the troubles for school-going girls. Due to the absence of functional or usable toilets, these girls then drop out of schools. It is important to create a hygienic and healthy environment for children in school and hence these basic facilities need to be provided in girls’ toilets in schools.”
However, deputy municipal commissioner told the Mid-Day that, “We already have a house-keeping agency appointed for this in civic schools. We have not received the letter as yet.” The order passed by Education Department also states that out of the amount given to each school… which is also known as the Composite Grant, 10% of it should be used for Swachhata Action Plan. CSR schemes could be opened by the government in order to open tenders for contractors to maintain hygiene in schools.
A senior officer from BMC told Mid-Day that, “Though there is already an agency to look after cleanliness of toilets in schools, it is a general task. But with the new order, specific arrangements have to be made in all girls’ toilets, as the government has given a list of items for basic amenities. The specifications might help in bettering the conditions as the order no longer just vaguely talks about providing clean toilets.”
