Prime Minister Narendra Modi might have launched the much-hyped Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign from the BJP-ruled Haryana but the state has miserably failed to live upto the expectations.
Just eight months after the campaign was launched, a report card of the state describes a poor profile of the girl education.
The Hindustan Times reported that according to a Right to Information (RTI) application reply filed by a social activist Subhash, the Haryana government has failed to construct toilets for girls in most of the government schools. Cleanliness and maintenance of toilets is another challenge.
The RTI reply reads that most of the government schools — especially senior secondary girls’ schools — in Sonepat, Hisar, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Mewat districts do not have the required number of toilets.
In Fatehabad district, 400 girl students of Government Senior Secondary School, Nagpur, have to use one toilet as the two other toilets have been rendered useless due to lack of maintenance.
Similarly, 1,187 students of Girls Senior Secondary School, Fatehabad, share four toilets as two toilets have not been made functional yet.
In Government Primary School Ratia, one toilet is enough for 266 girls. Similar situation is prevailing in several other government schools in Bhiwani district. Girls Senior Secondary School, Samaspur, has only one toilet for 208 girls.
The RTI reply has revealed that few days before the launch of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign, the state government had allocated Rs 11.96 crore for the maintenance of 4,656 toilets, including 2,417 for girls in 2,247 primary and middle schools of all 21 districts of the state, but toilets in several schools are still non-functional.
In April this year, Haryana education minister Ram Bilas Sharma had announced that toilets would be constructed in all state-run girls’ schools and a special sanitation fund would be sanctioned for the same.
The maintenance of toilets in government schools still remains a challenge for Haryana government.