AHMEDABAD: Nearly half of the households in Gujarat lack toilets, according to the 2011 census. Of the 1.20 lakh households in Gujarat — the census says — 47.25% do not have toilets. The Gujarat figure, though grim, is better than India’s: around 61% of the country’s households do not have toilets.

The report also states that in around 15% of the Gujarat households that do have toilets, the amenity is either not used or is defunct. Officials said that these toilets lie in the rural areas where there are no soak pits or water.

Interestingly, according to the report 20.56% of India’s household toilets are non-functional. As for schools in Gujarat, a surprising statistic was revealed. The report says that 2.07% of government schools did not have toilets, while the figure was 3.62% in the case of private schools. Officials said that private schools fared poorly even on the count of drinking water. While 5.10% of private schools did not have water facilities, the number was 4.90% for government schools.

At any rate, the census numbers suggest that Gujarat needs a substantial swachchta push in schools. This is borne out by a recent survey by an NGO which found that in Saurashtra, of the 85 schools studied, only 67 had separate toilets for girls, while four schools did not have any. In south Gujarat, of the 229 schools surveyed, 26 did not have functional toilets because of the non-availability of water and flooding during monsoon. Girls had no separate toilets in these schools.