Separate Toilets for Girls in 97.5% Schools: Centre Tells Supreme Court

More than 97.5% of all schools in the nation, including public, government-aided, and private ones, have separate restrooms for female pupils, the Center told the Supreme Court.

It has submitted an affidavit in a pending Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Congress leader and social activist Jaya Thakur, asking the Center and states to guarantee separate female restroom facilities in all government, government-aided, and residential schools, as well as to give free sanitary pads to girls in Classes 6 through 12.

States and Union territories, including Delhi, Goa, and Puducherry, have met all of their goals and complied with the court's previous rulings, the Center informed the top court. Additionally, the court was informed that over 10 lakh government schools now have 16 lakh restrooms for boys and 17.5 lakh restrooms for girls, while government-aided schools now have 2.5 lakh restrooms for boys and 2.9 lakh restrooms for girls.

The Center made note of the fact that 99.9% of schools in West Bengal and 98.8% of schools in Uttar Pradesh had separate restrooms for female pupils. The court has been informed that the percentages are as follows: 99.7% in Tamil Nadu, 99.6% in Kerala, 99.5% in Sikkim, Gujarat, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh, 98.7% in Karnataka, 98.6% in Madhya Pradesh, 97.8% in Maharashtra, 98.5% in Rajasthan, 98.5 in Bihar, and 96.1% in Odisha.

Even in Jammu and Kashmir, where 89.2 percent of schools have separate restrooms for girls, the Center has stated that the northeastern states fall short of the national norm of 98 percent. A national policy on the distribution of menstrual hygiene products to teenage schoolgirls is in a more advanced stage of development, the Center told the top court on July 8.

Thakur's public interest litigation (PIL) plea brought attention to the challenges that teenage girls from low-income families experience in the classroom. "The prevalence of unsanitary and unhealthy practices, which have serious health consequences, increase obstinacy, and eventually lead to dropping out of school, is caused by illiteracy and a deprived economic status," the request has stated.