New Delhi, March 16 Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan raised concerns on Monday about the lack of separate toilets for girl students in government schools, urging the Centre to conduct an immediate survey of school infrastructure across the country.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress leader from Chhattisgarh said the reality of the government's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" scheme was far from its promise.
"There are slogans from various platforms, but there isn't even a toilet for girl students in schools," she said.
Ranjan cited a recent report stating that over 5,000 schools in Chhattisgarh do not have separate toilets for girl students, adding that the state High Court had termed the situation "shameful" and sought a response from the state government.
Referring to national data, she said that according to a 2014-15 survey of 14.72 lakh schools, a majority lacked basic infrastructure. In Bihar, only 23 per cent of schools have separate toilets for girls, while in Uttar Pradesh the figure is 69 per cent. In Jammu and Kashmir, 1,321 government schools have no toilets.
She said UNICEF data shows that 22 per cent of schools lack basic infrastructure for girl students, and around 2.3 crore girls drop out of school due to the absence of facilities such as clean water, soap, and sanitary napkins.
"Is 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' limited to speeches and advertisements?" she asked.
Ranjan urged the government to survey school infrastructure urgently and ensure that every government school has separate, clean toilets along with water, soap, and sanitary napkins for girl students.