Centre gave reply in Supreme Court, says- 98% schools in the country have separate toilets for girl students
Centre: Congress leader and social worker Jaya Thakur had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. In this, she had said that free sanitary pads should be provided to female students from class six to 12 in schools and the center and states should be directed to build separate toilets for girl students in all schools.
In response to a Supreme Court petition demanding for separate toilets for girls in schools, the central government has filed a petition. 98% of the schools in the country have separate toilets for female students, according to the central government's affidavit filed to the court. 100% of schools in states and union territories, including Delhi, Goa, and Puducherry, have this setup in place. In other states, however, separate restrooms have also been constructed for female students.
Actually, Congress leader and social worker Jaya Thakur had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. In this, he had said that free sanitary pads should be provided to girl students of class six to 12 in schools and the center and states should be directed to build separate toilets for girl students in all schools. He had requested the court to look into the problems of teenage girls coming from poor families.
On this, the Supreme Court had asked the center and the states to make a model and submit a report to build separate toilets according to the number of girl students in all schools. Along with this, the court had also sought information from the center about the policy made to distribute sanitary napkins to girl students.
The central government has filed an affidavit regarding this in the Supreme Court. It was told that 16 lakh toilets for boys and 17.5 lakh toilets for girls have been built in more than 10 lakh government schools of the country. Whereas 2.5 lakh toilets for boys and 2.9 lakh toilets for girls have been built in government-aided schools. It is also working for drafting a national policy with regard to the distribution of menstrual hygiene products among adolescent girls.
The Centre told the court that 99.9% schools in West Bengal, 98.8% in Uttar Pradesh, 99.7% in Tamil Nadu, 99.6% in Kerala, 99.5% in Sikkim, Gujarat and Punjab, 99.6% in Chhattisgarh, 98.7% in Karnataka, 98.6% in Madhya Pradesh, 97.8% in Maharashtra, 98% in Rajasthan, 98.5% in Bihar and 96.1% in Odisha have separate toilets for girl students. On the other hand, less than 98% schools in the northeastern states and 89.2% schools in Jammu and Kashmir have toilet facilities.
