Jaipur: In a bid to improve sanitation facilities in rural govt schools, the state govt has released guidelines under Swachh Bharat Mission. The new measures focus on ensuring that toilets, particularly for girls, are regularly cleaned and supplied with water.Alarmingly, over 2,000 school buildings in the state currently lack proper toilet facilities. To address this, the guidelines, issued last week, mandate that each govt school in the rural belt appoint either the principal or a designated teacher as a nodal officer. The officer will be responsible for coordinating with local gram panchayat contractors to maintain cleanliness and ensure consistent availability of usable toilets for students.Schools have been instructed to ensure that necessary repairs and maintenance of the toilets located in the govt school are conducted and the facilities are kept clean, functional, and in a usable condition. Further, in co-ed schools, school authorities have been instructed to ensure that ‘Pink Toilets’ constructed for female students are functional in accordance with prescribed standards.Along with cleanliness, the gram panchayats and education department must ensure adequate electricity and water arrangements in the toilets by repairing defective taps, flush systems, doors, pipelines, etc. The guidelines also mention that every govt school must have separate toilet facilities for girls and boys and “the availability of fully functional toilets for girls must be mandatorily guaranteed in all girls’ schools”.At the district level, the chief executive officer and the chief district education officer have been instructed to regularly monitor the activities and conduct inspections. “During inspections, any deficiencies in sanitation arrangements must be addressed by issuing necessary instructions to the head of the Institution or the panchayat, and immediate compliance must be ensured,” state the guidelines.
