No water connections in toilets at 16,000 Telangana government schools

Hyderabad: Having a working toilet in their school is still a dream for lakhs of government school students in Telangana. Around 16,000 of the 25,966 government schools in Telangana do not have water connections in toilets.

Officially all government schools in the state have toilets, which has been reported in the 2015-16 report of District Information System for Education (DISE) but is yet to be put up in public domain. The Union ministry of human resource Development is already hailing Swachh Vidyalaya as a successful scheme on its website.

However, in reality, the scheme is a big failure as lakhs of students in 16,000 government schools in Telangana are unable to use these toilets, thanks to lack of water connections.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan officials say that it is up to the headmasters of the schools to arrange for water connections in association with Rural Water Supply or urban development bodies, depending on whether the school is located in a rural or urban area.

Mr N. Narayana of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation said, “How can the government shirk its responsibility in providing water connections to toilets? The SSA is not just responsible for construction of toilets but also in ensuring that they are usable. Usable toilets are guaranteed under the Right to Education Act.”

School heads say that without efforts from top levels in the state government, getting water connections is not possible.

When contacted, a principal of a government school in Medak said, “School heads are trying their best to get water connections by asking everyone around for help. We have approached the Rural Water Supply department, MLAs, MLCs, district collector, and written to the Education department, but to no avail. Heads of the Education department and the minister himself must pursue the matter.”

The Swachh Vidyalaya mission has failed even in attracting the attention of corporates for construction of toilets in government schools, which was planned as one of its principal methods of getting funding for the scheme. In the state of Telangana, only Microsoft, which constructed 22 toilets in eight schools and Tata Consultancy Services, which constructed 425 toilets in 393 schools, came forward to take part in the scheme.

According to a report by experts, around 2,850 toilets were constructed by a few Public Sector Units. Around 17,800 toilets were constructed with funding from the Central and state governments.