More than 1,900 toilets in government schools are lying defunct across 14 blocks and four urban local bodies in the Cuttack district of Odisha, according to official reports. The lack of water supply is to blame.
As per the reports, toilets were constructed in 2,168 government-run schools, which include primary, upper primary and high schools in the district. However, only 229 toilets receive water supply, while the rest 1,939 toilets are lying defunct, as mentioned in a report by The New Indian Express.
Several unused toilets are found to be in dilapidated condition due to lack of maintenance. The documents further note that the highest number of schools, which is 213, is in the Salipur block where the toilets of only 18 schools have water supply. And out of 174 schools in Athagarh block, water provision is available in 32 schools, while toilets of only 33 out of the total 141 schools in Badamba block are said to receive water supply.
Similarly, the toilets of 28 schools out of the total 103 schools in Banki block have water facilities, but not a single toilet of the total 101 schools in Barang block receives water supply. Meanwhile, the toilets of only 8 out of a total of 176 schools in Cuttack Sadar block have water supply, while there is no water supply to the toilets of all the 98 schools in Dampada block.
The situation is not too encouraging for seven other blocks of the district either. There are 101 schools within the jurisdiction of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), and there too the toilets of several schools are lying unused due to a lack of water connection. As the toilets remain unused, students face many inconveniences, as per TNIE.
In the face of this grim reality, however, the District Education Officer (DEO) Krushna Chandra Nayak said that the provision of water supply was made in the toilets of every school. "Moreover, the headmasters were also instructed to maintain the toilets from the annual maintenance fund which is being provided to each school," he added.
"We will inspect the schools to take stock of the situation and an explanation will be sought from the concerned headmasters as to why they have not been maintaining the toilets in the schools," Nayak said further.
