Though the country’s education policy states that toilet is a basic necessity besides classrooms, teachers, library and education materials in an academic institution, a majority of schools in the district lack separate toilets for girls.

According to the District Education Office, only 94—including 70 secondary, 12 lower secondary and two primary—of the total 262 schools—including 99 secondary, 63 lower secondary and 100 primary—in the district have separate toilet for girls.

For instance, the Baijanath Lower Secondary School at Rautelibichawa-8 does not have a separate toilet for females though a majority of its students are girls.

“We have to stop classes while girls walk 10-15 minutes to reach the nearest stream or forest,” said Indra Dutta Bhatta, headmaster at the school. Since there is a risk of students drowning in the stream, we have to send someone to look for them in case they take too long, he said.

“The District Education Office (DEO) has not provided any kind of support for infrastructure development in the school for the past 15 years,” Bhatta claimed, adding that their repeated requests had fallen on deaf ears. He said the school could not even raise funds for toilet construction from parents as most children come from economically backward communities.

Similar is the condition of Janajyoti Higher Secondary School in Kalkatta, Rampur-6. “Most schools in the southern region lack toilets for female students,” said Sher Singh Bista, a resource person at the Bellauri Resource Centre.

Assistant District Education Officer Padam Raj Bhatta said they were unable to address the issue due to limited budget released by the Department of Education.

source: the kathmandu post,7 may 2014