By IANS,
Kolkata : Blaming lack of toilet as the major reason behind girls dropping out of schools, NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) Wednesday called for better infrastructural facilities especially separate toilets for girl students.
“Of the 243 million adolescents in the country, 40 percent of the girls have either not gone to school or are dropouts. One major reason for them being out of school is lack of separate toilets for them,” said Atindranath Das, regional director, CRY East.
“Only 44 percent schools covered under the Right to Education Act have separate, functioning girl’s toilets. The government, therefore, must ensure developing the school infrastructure if it aims to increase female literacy in the country,” he said.
Quoting the National Family Health Survey data, Das said only 20 percent of schools in Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh had separate toilet facilities while in northeastern states, including Assam, only 27 percent of schools had the facility.
Das said early marriage of girls was also a major concern towards improving female literacy.
“Forty-three percent of the girls in country get married before the age of 18 and nearly 13 percent of them become teenage mothers. The government must ensure its targeted programmes and schemes are effectively implemented to guarantee good governance in schools,” he said.
CRY representatives across the country will meet chief ministers to discuss the education of girls and submit their recommendations.