Parliament session: There should be separate toilets for girl students in schools, Congress MP in Rajya Sabha demands from the government

New Delhi, 16 March. Expressing concern over the absence of separate toilets for girl students in many government schools of the country, Congress member Ranjit Ranjan in Rajya Sabha on Monday demanded the government to conduct an immediate survey of sanitary facilities in schools and ensure provision of separate toilets for girl students in every school. Raising this issue during Zero Hour in the Upper House, Ranjit Ranjan said that there is a lack of basic facilities for girl students in government schools of the country and many schools do not have separate toilets for girls. “This is a serious and shameful problem.”

He said that according to a news, more than five thousand government schools in Chhattisgarh do not have separate toilet facilities for girl students and the state High Court has sought a report from the state government, calling it shameful. The Congress member said, “This is not just a state problem. In our country, 2.3 crore girls are forced to drop out of school every year due to lack of basic hygiene facilities and menstrual management facilities. Many schools have neither separate toilets for girls, nor clean water, nor soap nor arrangements for safe disposal of sanitary napkins. In such a situation, girls find it very difficult to continue their studies.”

He said that the situation in some states is more worrying. He said that 23 percent government schools in Bihar and 29 percent government schools in Uttar Pradesh do not have separate toilets for girl students. He said that according to a survey for the year 2024-25, there are about 14.72 lakh government schools in the country but many government schools do not have separate toilets for girl students.

Ranjit Ranjan said that there is no provision of separate toilets for girl students in 1321 government schools in Jammu and Kashmir, 141 government schools in Uttarakhand, more than 14,000 government schools in Rajasthan and more than 14,072 government schools in Madhya Pradesh. He said that more than 10 thousand schools across the country do not have toilets and according to UNICEF, about 22 percent of the schools in our country do not have separate toilets for girl students.

He said, “It is a question of education, health and dignity of daughters. The slogan of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is given and they are talked about from government forums. But the ground reality is completely different. It is a serious question whether daughters are being empowered only by slogans.” Ranjit Ranjan requested the government to immediately conduct a survey of sanitation facilities in schools across the country. He said, “Separate safe, functional and clean toilets should be ensured for girls in every school and facilities related to soap, water and menstrual hygiene should be provided.”