Namesake Toilets, No Drinking Water; Which Parent Would Send His Ward To Such School? Karnataka HC Raps State Over Govt School Conditions

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday took strong exception to the claim made by the State Government that only in 38 government schools in the state, proper toilet facility is not available.

Three months back in a report submitted to the court the government had claimed that around 464 government schools in the state did not have proper toilet facilities for the students as per the Right to Education (RTE) norms.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice M G S Kamal as a test case perused the photographs annexed in the compliance report of two schools wherein the government claimed it has provided toilet blocks. On going through them the court said,

“There is nothing in the photograph to show whether this toilet block is for girls or boys. Secondly the toilet block is in a very shabby condition i.e., in front of the toilet itself there are a large number of bushes, even the outer wall of the toilet block and the door seems to have recently painted that too, just putting some coats of the paint...The condition of the washroom is least to say pathetic.”

It referred to Section 19 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which pertains to Norms and standards for school. “We can only say that no parent would like to send his ward to a school where such a toilet facility is available. We can only again say that what is called a toilet facility is only for namesake, that is four walls and a door and on top of it there is no water facility in the school,” it remarked.

Court said the facilities provided by the government in these schools is nothing but an "eyewash”. It also noted that even drinking water is not available in some schools and it is carried over head by some attendant or brought from outside. It orally said,

“Just consider the future of the students and visualise the concept of how it looks. What kind of children and society are we bringing up? At whose door step the blame should lie? Who is responsible and accountable for all this? Can we accept this…just like 'Chalta Hai'. This petition has been pending since 2013, at the instance of this court, we are in 2023 and three governments have gone and the facilities are as it is. Three five year plans can be planned for this and still your are saying that you will see the available funds then provide funds for infrastructure. Such a casual attitude...show some seriousness, some concern. This pain’s a lot. We feel depressed. We can’t claim progress.”

The Court has now directed the State government to conduct a fresh survey of the schools, within 3 months, in presence of Secretary of Taluka District Legal Services Authority.

It also directed that wherever it is reported that no drinking water facility is available, the State government will provide drinking water in each such schools as an immediate measure, by whatever possible mode available.

The court also directed the State to make a provision for allocation of funds in the budget for school infrastructure. “Unless such a budgetary allocation of funds is made in our opinion no fruitful purpose will be served. As such we reiterate that the state government must make specific allocation of funds in the budget for this purpose to fulfil RTE norms, relating to infrastructure in schools within a stipulated period.”

Before parting the court orally observed “This really pains us. Last time also we observed that on one hand those are the fortunates, who have the facility of schools with all the modern technology, gadgets and RO water and what not, and only because of this callous approach somebody who may be desirous having the education of his ward in the school becomes a dream for the poor parent. Somebody who could be the brightest student, if a facility is made available, can participate in the progress of the state or country. This is a national loss.”

The directions were given while hearing a suo-motu public interest litigation based on media reports highlighting a large number of children dropping out of school.

In its order the court also recorded that as per recommendation a total of 22,227 out of school students were tracked and 2,081 are still to be tracked. It was submitted that there was some difficulty in tracking children due to wrong address and phone numbers.

Further, the government is considering the recommendation to conduct a house to house survey to identify the children in the age group of 0 to 18 years.

Case Title: REGISTRAR (JUDICIAL) v. THE CHIEF SECRETARY

Case No: WP 15768/2013