DEHRADUN: As Uttarakhand gears up to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday today as ‘Sewa Divas’ by promoting ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, around 1600 schools in the state still wait to get functional toilets. Uttarakhand state commission for protection of child rights (SCPCR) has expressed concern over the matter and directed the education department to raise a request for funds from the state government to set things right.

According to a rough estimate, around 50,000 children study in these 1599 schools which are still waiting for functional toilets. Of these, 562 are primary schools while 171 are junior high schools (from class VI to VIII) where both boys and girls spend more than eight hours daily. Besides, 733 of them do not have even the drinking water facility. Highest number of schools with dysfunctional toilets are in Tehri (338) followed by Dehradun (302) and Chamoli (218).

This was highlighted in a report submitted to the Uttarakhand child rights commission by one of the RTI activist from Champawat, Rajendra Prasad. The activist sought the information from the education department.

Taking cognizance of the report, the commission directed the education department to look into the issue last week. “By the report, it seems that the education department is in dire need of funds to have basic facilities in place. It is advised to the department to send proper documents to the state government for required action,” SCPCR secretary Vinod Prasad Raturi said in a letter dated September 8 which was marked to the education department officials.

The activist, Rajendra Prasad, who himself belongs to hill district Champawat, said, “How will our schools provide safety and security to the students when they are unable to provide them basic facilities like toilets and drinking water? There is no point observing a Sewa Divas without having basic infrastructure in place.”

Additional project director of state’s Rigth to Education Cell, Mukul Sati, said, “Majority of these schools needs to undergo complete renovation. We have already sent out a report to the Centre for funds. Once we get it, construction works will be executed on top priority.”

Uttarakhand has 12,535 primary schools and 2,796 junior schools, totalling 18331 – with around 6 lakh kids enrolled in these schools.