They are forced to urinate outside the compound wall of the school
Girls carry a bucket to fetch water as the toilets do not have proper water facility in the school. (Photo: DC/File)
Coimbatore: As the interval bell rings at the government high school in Kamarajar Nagar near Sundarapuram by 11 am, hordes of boys sprint out of the campus hurriedly.
They do not scamper out to tuck into some snacks, but to relieve themselves. For they can't wait. Their school doesn't have toilet facilities for high school boys. So, they are forced to urinate outside the compound wall of the school.
It has become a daily ordeal for 110 boys, studying classes 6 to 10, as they squirm while urinating in the open. As for the girls, they literally have to squeeze themselves into two units of toilets. These two units of toilets have four latrines, of which one has been reserved for teachers.
Both the high school and elementary school function in the same compound premises. Around 110 girls of high school and 112 girls of elementary school have just three dingy, stinking cubicles called toilets.
The elementary school boys, numbering around 108, have a dingy asbestos-roofed, single room provision. Making things worse, the school toilets have not got water supply for the last 20 days.
The school, which started as an elementary school in 2002, was upgraded to middle school in 2007 and became a high school in 2011. "Upgrading the school simply without providing required facilities to students makes no sense.
There is also lack of adequate classrooms; there is no playground or water facilities. Our battle for the last four years with the education department for better toilet facilities haven't fructified still," said Mr P. Dhandapani, a local resident and member of the school's education committee.
"I find it really awkward to urinate out in the open in full public view. Sometimes the residents hurl abuses at us for urinating in the open as they say we ruin their locality. But we have no other option," said a class 8 student of the school.
To ease the rush in toilets for girls, the school has announced different interval timings. As water supply to the toilets had stopped over the last 20 days, the schoolteachers, with their contributions, have employed a man to fill the tanks with water fetched from outside.
Children from several surrounding areas such as Pillayarpuram, M.G.R. Nagar, K.V.K. Nagar, Kamarajar Nagar and Kurichi Housing Unit are dependent on this school to pursue education as other government schools are located faraway.
"Despite several setbacks, the students of our school scored 96 per cent in class 10 public exams last year and 100 per cent the year before. We are aiming for cent per cent this year, too, and are hopeful. We will be happy if the school gets better facilities," said a teacher, preferring anonymity.
( Source : dc )
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