21,977 govt schools without girl's toilets in country: Minister

Almost 21,000 government schools in the country are without girl's toilets as per 2016-2017 data, the Parliament was informed on Thursday. 

All States and UTs have been advised to comply with the provision of the RTE Act, 2009, which states that every school building should have separate toilets for boys and girls, the Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi informed the Lok Sabha. "The subject relating to toilet/sanitation facilities in schools is dealt by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. As per the information received from that Ministry, as per Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), 2016-17 (Provisional), total number of Government schools without girls' toilet was 20,977 (1.93 per cent), and without boys' toilet was 28,713 (2.67 per cent)," he said. He further said 4.17 lakh toilets including 1.91 lakh girls' toilets were constructed/made functional in 2.61 lakh government schools in the one year period up to August 15, 2015.

It was done under the Swachh Vidyalaya initiative launched in collaboration with State/UT Governments, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Private Corporates for provision of separate toilets for girls and boys in all government schools, the minister added.