Stressing on the need to appoint sweepers for keeping toilets clean in every school, the Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday asked Primary Education and literacy Secretary Aradhana Patnaik to file an affidavit on the actual status of toilets located in tribal and remote areas along with 10 photographs of functional toilets in schools from each of the districts in Jharkhand.
The court was hearing a PIl initiated after it took suo-motto cognizance on the basis of reports published in various newspapers. "let the Primary Education and literacy Secretary file an affidavit, depicting whether there are toilets in each of the schools located in tribal/rural areas. If yes, whether they are all functional or notIJ Whether there is any provision of male and female sweepers in those schools, if not, then how much time they will take to appoint them," said Chief Justice Virender Singh. The case will be heard next on August 12.
Amicus curie in the case Anubha Rawat submitted that despite the fact that most of the toilets in the schools are not yet functional the State Government has even received a letter of appreciation from the Government of India on the basis of the performance report sent by it to the latter.
Reacting to the submission made by Rawat, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice S Chandrashekhar asked the Secretary to attach photographs of functional toilets of at least 10 schools in each of the 24 districts located in tribal/rural areas after physically visiting the place before the next date.
"The photograph must be attached with the affidavit. We will form a five-member committee to visit those schools for fact finding, expenses of which will be borne by the State Government.
During the hearing, the court also expressed concern over the fact that despite having toilets in some of the schools in remote tribal areas, it is not being used due to unawareness of the tribal community.
"Toilets have been constructed, but the poor tribal children do not know how to use it. An intensive awareness programme must be conducted in such tribal and remote areas so that those children could be made aware of it," said Chief Justice Singh.
"In addition to that, the State Government must think of appointing sweepers in schools to keep these toilets clean," he said. "A school must have at least one male and female sweeper in it," the Chief Justice said.
It was revealed through a report prepared by the UNICEF about the pathetic conditions of girls' schools in Jharkhand - most of the girls' schools did not have toilets in them and those having them did not have the basic facilities like water and privacy.
The UNICEF report further said that due to the pathetic conditions of toilets in schools, girls are reluctant to go to the schools leading to the increase in the drop-out rates as they feel unsafe and ashamed of using those toilets
.