Toilets are main concern for girl students: CRY

On a day when the Supreme Court directed the Union and State governments to provide basic infrastructure, including drinking water and toilets, in all schools within six months, a survey conducted among parents in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore said that “toilets remain the single-most commonly voiced concern for girl students and their parents across India among the lower-income group.” The secondary data of survey added that only 44 per cent schools covered by the Right to Education Act have separate, functioning girls’ toilets. “Chhattisgarh has only 20 per cent schools with usable girls toilets, while Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh fare only marginally better. Stating that while the proportion of girls who are still out of school declined from 6.8 per cent to 5.9 in 2010, the survey notes that the percentage of out-of-school girls is still high in some States, including Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, where the proportion has remained largely unchanged since last year. The survey also highlighted that while respondents want their girlchildren to be in school and receive education, several of them noted that the present transport system was not safe for the girlchild, girls get abused in school as well as on the way to school, separate toilets are vital for education of girlchild and almost all respondents noted that they wanted schools to have separate toilet for girls,” said CRY’s Volunteer Action director Yogita Verma speaking about the main survey titled ‘A rapid assessment of knowledge, attitude and practise on prevalence of barriers to girl child education among lower income groups of society.’ In the survey, one in four respondents felt that an individual below 18 years is necessarily not a child while some noted that individuals should not be considered as a child if the individual is tall, can take of children, do household chores, cook food and work and earn.