BENGALURU: Contrary to claims by the state government that Karnataka would be free from open defecation in two years, around 150 government schools lack toilets. According to statistics available with the state government, though there are 44,295 government primary schools and 4,614 government high schools, 105 primary schools for boys and 207 schools for girls lack toilets. As far as high schools are concerned, ten schools for boys and three for girls do not have toilets. Besides, toilets in more than 350 schools lack proper maintenance and therefore are of little use for boys and girls.
As per the report, Haveri district tops the list with 200 non-functional toilets in government boys primary schools, followed by 30 in Belagavi-Chikkodi, 22 in Kolar, 18 in Gadag, seven in Dakshina Kannada and four in Kalaburagi districts. In government girls primary schools category, again Haveri district tops the list with non-functional toilets in 100 schools, followed by 13 in Belagavi-Chikodi, nine in Gadag and five in Hassan district.
In government high schools, however, the facilities are better when compared with primary schools. A senior officer in the department of education told Deccan Chronicle that steps had been taken to provide a toilet block in each government school on priority. Both the state and central governments have set aside adequate funds for construction of toilets keeping in mind the health and hygiene of each kid.
Lack of water in certain areas had hampered construction activities. Some areas do not have water sources and even sinking of bore wells was not of any help. However, the department was committed to provide toilets in every government school. On unusable toilets, the officer said it was also duty of the schools concerned to maintain toilets well.
Officers at the block level were asked to instruct the authorities concerned to use disinfectants to keep toilets clean. Unfortunately, shortage of water had affected proper maintenance of toilets, he added.
