While the government aims to make Rajasthan free from open defecation by 2017, a report submitted by an NGO in the Rajasthan High Court said that 73 per cent of 138 government schools in Jaipur do not have proper sanitation facilities.
The report says that most of the schools have no sweepers and the school authorities use Dalit children to clean the toilets.
Pulling up the state government, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sunil Ambwani and Justice Prakash Gupta, has asked the state government to reply to the report by Thursday.
Earlier, while hearing a PIL, the High Court had directed two NGOs to conduct a survey of the condition of the government schools in Jaipur. One of the NGOs Bharat Bal Vigyan Samiti said the report exposed pitiable condition of the schools.
According to the report, separate toilets for girls were missing in several schools. At some places, the staff members reserve the toilets for their own use, depriving students of the facility. The petitioners’ advocate Nayana Saraff said that according to the report, out of 138 government schools, 24 have no toilets while 75 per cent of the schools have no proper sanitation facilities.
The report pointed out strong caste discrimination because students of a particular caste were forced to carry out cleaning activity due to lack of sanitation workers. It highlighted that the average number of girls outnumbered boys by 56.3 per cent in the state.
The advocate told the court that increase in girl students is due to discrimination by parents between boys and girls. Parents prefer to send their daughters in government schools and boys in private ones.