Select a date Select month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 Select a category Agriculture Bihar Votes For Its (and India’s) Future BUDGET 2014 Budget 2015: Modi’s Moment of Reckoning Budget 2016: The stories behind the numbers Chart of the Day Climate Change Cover Story Currency Chaos Development Education Elections 2014 Employment Fact Check Governance Newsletter Health homepage video Hunger India’s Great Challenge: Health & Sanitation IndiaSpend In The News IndiaSpend Interviews Industry Investigations Central State Latest Headlines Latest Reports Making Sense of Breaking News Modi’s Message: India’s States Reply Modi’s Report Card Mumbai Special Mumbai Special: The Revival Agenda Opinion – Videos Opinions Pollution Poverty Prime Time: India’s Grand Challenges Resources Central State Sectors Agriculture Defence Economy & Policy Education Health Infrastructure Snapshots States Central India Chattisgarh Madhya Pradesh EAST Bihar Jharkhand Orissa West Bengal NORTH Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir New Delhi Punjab Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand NORTH EAST Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura SOUTH Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu WEST Goa Gujarat Maharashtra Story In A Minute The Air We #Breathe The Road To Delhi: Elections 2015 The Transition: 2015-2016 Uncategorized Viznomics: A Quick Glance At Big Issues Welfare Women Women@Work Women@Work Search with Google

In 2016, as many as 96.5% of rural elementary government schools in India had toilets, but more than one in four toilets (27.79%) were dysfunctional or locked, according to data collected for the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a citizen-led survey on the status of elementary education in rural India. About 68.7% of schools had working toilet facilities for students.

In 2016, the ASER survey was conducted in 589 out of 619 rural Indian districts, and surveyors visited 17,473 schools. ASER has been collecting data on water and sanitation infrastructure in schools since 2009.

The proportion of schools with toilets increased 7.43 percentage points from 2010 to 2016. Functional toilets have increased 21.45 percentage points in the same period. But the rate of progress is now slowing, and government agencies do not collect data on useable toilets– that is if existing facilities are working and useable.

India’s National Sample Survey, the District Information System for Education (DISE), and the Census, which are the main sources of data on water and sanitation-related indicators, do not measure the usability of sanitation infrastructure.

The working and usage of sanitation facilities is ignored because of an overemphasis on the availability of this infrastructure. In states where the gap between availability and functionality is massive–a common occurrence in north-eastern and central states–focusing only on availability of toilets can be misleading to policy makers and analysts.

For instance, if only availability is considered, 95.82% of government elementary schools in rural Uttar Pradesh in 2014, and 95.35% in 2016 were observed to have toilets for students. But if we look at the functionality of these toilets, we find that only 54.92% of schools were reported to have working toilets in 2014 and 54.83% in 2016.

Source: Annual Status of Education Report

The percentage of schools with toilet facilities, in terms of availability has been reported in the high nineties for the past few years, which lines up with the vision of universal sanitation in schools. According to this data, India now seems to be tackling a “last-mile problem” i.e. India only needs to make a little more effort to get to 100% availability of toilets in schools.

But this encourages complacence about water and sanitation in India. When we look at data on working toilets, we realize that India is far from achieving near perfect, universal sanitation in schools.

For instance, in Mizoram, slightly more than one in two schools (54.88%) were found to have dysfunctional or locked toilets. A similar situation was observed in Manipur (47.19%), Meghalaya (45.74%), and Nagaland (45.24%).

If we consider merely the availability of toilets, no red flags would be raised regarding these schools, despite the fact that students would continue to lack access to working toilets.

This gap between usability and availability is also observed in states that have better development indicators. In Kerala, 100% of schools had a toilet, but 18% were found to be unusable in 2016. Further, access to working toilets reduced over time. In 2014, fewer toilets were unusable (15.2%) in Kerala schools.

Why stop at reporting availability of toilets when evidence suggests that a lot of these toilets are unusable? The implementation of sanitation policies and the impact these policies have on student wellbeing will be best measured when we emphasize usability of toilets. In the context of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan–Gramin (Clean India Campaign–Rural) and Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya, (Clean India Clean School) measuring usability of sanitation infrastructure becomes even more important. Broken toilets do not bring us any closer to realizing the vision of Swachh Bharat (Clean India).

Falling rates of improvement in sanitation

While a growth in the percentage of schools with working sanitation provisions has been reported over time, this improvement is slowing across most states in India, even as sanitation has been at the forefront of India’s political discourse, and funding for sanitation policies has increased significantly in the past few years.

In Assam, for example, the proportion of schools with working toilets increased by 20% between 2010 and 2012, 6% between 2012 and 2014, and 3% between 2014 and 2016. Ideally, the rate of improvement should be increasing over time, if not remain consistent, with an increase in funds. Functional toilets are overall low (33% in 2010, 53% in 2012, 59% in 2014, and 62% in 2016) so the slowing rate of improvement cannot be attributed to the last remaining remote or difficult to access regions.

In Tamil Nadu (with 79.4% of schools with useable toilets in 2016), the reported percentage of schools with working toilets increased by 23% between 2010 and 2012, 12% between 2012 and 2014, and decreased by 0.41% between 2014 and 2016. In Uttar Pradesh, the proportion of schools with working toilets increased by 6% between 2010 and 2012, by 2% between 2012 and 2014, and remained stable between 2014 and 2016.

Source: Annual Status of Education Report

Gender disparity in working sanitation facilities

One of the reasons for high dropout rates and non-enrolment for girls in rural India could be the lack of toilets in schools, and thus it is worrying that improvement in working sanitation facilities for girls has also slowed down.

In Maharashtra, a relatively well-off state, the recorded percentage of schools with toilets for girls increased by 10% between 2010 and 2012, 6% between 2012 and 2014, and 4% between 2014 and 2016. In 2016, 62.5% of schools in Maharashtra were reported to have a working toilet for girls.

Secondly, data show that a lower proportion of schools have working toilets for girls than they have for boys, which means that girls do not enjoy the same level of access to working sanitation facilities as boys do. This has been calculated by comparing the proportion of schools that were found to have a working girl’s toilet with the proportion of schools that had a working toilet.

Source: Annual Status of Education Report

In Maharashtra, 68% of schools had a working toilet compared to 62.5% of working toilets for girls. Similarly, in West Bengal, the difference between the recorded percentage of schools with toilets and the recorded percentage of schools with toilets for girls was 14.8% in 2012, 24% in 2014, 14.7% in 2016.

It is only when we look beyond availability of toilets, and take into account the large gap between usability and availability of sanitation infrastructure in India, that we can make more nuanced arguments about indicators like rates of improvement in sanitation and gender parity, and make better policy to meet these challenges.

(Bhattacharyya leads the water and sanitation activities of ASER Centre. Gangwar is an undergraduate student of political science and economics at Ashoka University, Haryana, and recently interned with the ASER Centre.)

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.



__________________________________________________________________



“Liked this story? Indiaspend.org is a non-profit, and we depend on readers like you to drive our public-interest journalism efforts. Donate Rs 500; Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000.”