Lack of toilets: Girl child education affected

SAMBALPUR: The State Government’s push to get all children between the age of six and 14 into school is yielding mixed results: Overall enrolment has indeed increased, but girls here are not deriving their fair share of benefits.

Lack of toilets in primary and upper primary schools under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been reflecting on the enrolment and drop-out rate of girl students in the district. Around 55 per cent of schools in Sambalpur district are without toilets even as construction of additional classrooms is being carried out under SSA. Such is the situation that in Sambalpur municipal area, there are 64 primary schools and 33 UP schools which do not have toilets. The number is 89 primary schools and 20 UP schools in Jujumura block.

The situation in other blocks and civic body areas is equally grim.

As per official records, of the 1,300 primary schools and 514 UP schools in the district, there are at least 696 primary schools and 305 UP schools which do not have toilets.

Even though the rest of the schools have toilets, they are in unusable condition due to lack of maintenance. In some, there is no pipe-water supply to the toilets, reflecting on the hygiene.

Under such circumstances, parents are reluctant to send their daughters to school.