Our rapid assessment on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in schools of Odisha has been covered well in media and has reached the government. Though government is still reluctant, the facts are bare. Truth has to be accepted and immediate corrective measures requires to be taken to ensure WASH access in all schools of Odisha.
The findings of the rapid assessment can be found at http://rcdcindia.org/PbDocument/4add988b1bd4ecb-57c1-4331-b898-204478c4d615Rapid%20assessment%20report%20-%20School%20WASH%20-%2014.11.15.pdf
Report by Odisha Diary bureau, Bhubaneswar: A rapid assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) status in rural schools of Odisha reveals that Odisha hasn’t yet succeeded in providing basic WASH facilities in schools, particularly rural schools; and even drinking water status.
In the weeks following October 02, 2015 – the Gandhi Jayanti day – a rapid assessment had been done to assess status of functionality of toilets, drinking water facilities, hand-wash facilities and menstrual-hygiene-management (MHM) facilities for girls in the schools. The assessment covered all schools of one sample rural Panchayat each in 20 districts of Odisha. Twenty Civil Society Organisations, who are working on education theme, under the aegis of ‘Right to Education Forum (RTE Forum, Odisha)’ had conducted the survey in a participatory mode. A total of 160 schools which included 14 high schools and five Sevashram schools, were covered in the assessment. These schools have 14,072 students on the roll and 568 teachers.
The study took October 02, 1015 as the threshold day as by this day all government commitments, all orders of the Supreme Court of India and all compliance of important laws should have been fully achieved and all schools of Odisha should have functional separate toilets for boys and girls. The study also looked into whether the school has functional water supply facility and whether it has functional hygiene facilities, especially considering the needs of girl students.
The study found that more than one-third of rural schools did not have even one functional toilet, 43% of schools did have functional toilet for girls, 57% of high schools did not have functional toilet for girls, 48% of schools did not have any functional urinal, 76% of schools did not have proper hand-wash facilities, and 79% of high-schools with girl students did not have even basic infrastructures to cater to menstrual hygiene needs.
Anil Pradhan of Right to Education Forum said that ‘while the sanitation and hygiene status remain abysmal; drinking water scenario, too, remains quite poor. As high as 8% of rural schools surveyed do not have any water supply provision and 76% of schools have only tube well hand-pump as functional water source. Only 16% schools had pipe water supply facility’. The survey found hope that many schools have had some kind of infrastructure development initiatives in the last one year. ‘There is a palpable urgency in government’s action, but still the smaller challenge infrastructure creation targets have not been met. A bigger challenge to use those infrastructures well lies ahead’, said Mr Bimal Prasad Pandia of Regional Centre for Development Co-operation.
Additional Information of rapid assessment of School WASH
Some of the major findings of the rapid assessments are follows:
- Toilets
o 36% of all schools did not have even one functional toilet.
o 59% of co-ed schools did not have separate functional toilets for both boys and girls.
o 43% of all schools had no functional toilet for girls at all
o 43% of high schools did not have any functional toilet
o 39% of high schools had functional toilet for both girls and boys.
o 57% of high schools with female students had no functional toilet for girls.
o 46% high schools with male students did not have functional toilet for boys.
o 40% of Sevashram schools did not have any functional toilet for girl students.
- Urinals
o 63% of co-ed schools did not have functional urinals for both boys and girls.
o 48% of total schools did not have any functional urinal.
o 48% of schools assessed had no functional urinal for girls at all
o 60% of the schools did not have functional urinal for boys
o 36% of total high schools did not have any functional urinal
o 57% of the co-ed high schools did not have separate urinals for girls and boys
o 36% of the high schools assessed did not have functional urinal for girls
o 54% of high schools did not have any functional urinal for boys
o 80% of Sevashram schools had separate functional urinal for both girls and boys
- Drinking water
o 8% of the all schools had no functional water source
o 78% of total schools had at least one functional water source inside the school compound
o 76% of schools had only tubewell fitted hand pump as only water source.
o Teachers in 87% of rural schools said that they do not know about any test done to assess quality of water in school sources.
- Hand wash and Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM)
o 24% of all schools had functional hand wash facilities
o 85% of all schools with girl students did not have basic MHM provisions
o 79% of high schools with girl students did not have basic MHM provisions
- New infrastructure development
o 41% of schools, reported that some forms of infrastructure development or creation have been done in the last one year
Districts covered in the survey (20 districts):
Balasore (Kaliko GP), Bargarh (Mithapali GP), Bhadrak (Aradi GP), Cuttack (Daudpur), Deogarh (Gurusang), Dhenkanal (Baligorada), Gajapati (Parimala), Ganjam (Banka), Jagatsinghpur (Fatehpur), Jajpur (Singhapur), Keonjhar (Budhakhaman), Khordha (Barimund), Koraput (Kularsingh), Malkangiri (Nuaguda), Mayurbhanj (Nuagaon), Nayagarh (Banamalipur), Nuapada (Kureswar), Raygada (Paika Dukulguda), Sambalpur (Kud Guderpur), and Subarnapur (Bramhani).
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