New Delhi : Provide toilet facilities in all government schools by the end of this year, the Supreme Court Tuesday told all the states and union territories .
Temporary facilities must be provided by Nov 30, in case permanent services cannot be enabled, said Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Dipak Misra.
The court’s direction came in the course of the hearing of a petition seeking provision for drinking water and toilet facilities in government schools across the country.
Justice Bhandari said that empirical studies have “shown that parents do not send girl students to school if schools do not have toilet facility”.
“If you don’t provide it toilet facilities immediately, more and more girl students will drop out and this is in clear violation of Article 21A that provides for the right to education,” the court said.
Justice Bhandari said: “If you can’t provide better toilet facilities then how can you implement Article 21A providing for right to education.”
The court was told that by and large drinking water facilities had been made available in government schools in states and UTs.
The judges were informed that some works related to providing potable water in government schools needed to be completed in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The case would be heard next Dec 5, the date by which the states and UTs have been asked to file their compliance report on providing temporary toilet facilities.
IANS
