EQUITY IN SCHOOL WATER AND SANITATIONxii
Overcom<strong>in</strong>g Exclusion <strong>and</strong> Discrim<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>in</strong> South AsiaCountry Report BhutanExecutive SummaryUNICEF ROSA (Regional Office for South Asia)commissioned a four-country qualitative researchstudy <strong>in</strong> Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh <strong>and</strong> India tounderst<strong>and</strong> the dynamics of <strong>in</strong>clusion <strong>and</strong>exclusion <strong>and</strong> generate sufficient evidence to raiseawareness both at the government <strong>and</strong> thepractitioner level on issues related to water <strong>and</strong>sanitation <strong>and</strong> the role that they play <strong>in</strong> children'sexclusion from <strong>and</strong> discrim<strong>in</strong>ation with<strong>in</strong> education.At the <strong>in</strong>ception workshop <strong>in</strong> December 2008, itwas agreed that the country teams would: (a)review country-wise secondary data on water <strong>and</strong>sanitation; (b) map the water <strong>and</strong> sanitary situation<strong>in</strong> sample schools <strong>and</strong> explore how they affect or<strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>in</strong>clusive participation of children <strong>in</strong>schools; (c) conduct qualitative <strong>in</strong>-depth researchto ga<strong>in</strong> an underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g of the practical <strong>and</strong>psychological barriers which children can face <strong>in</strong>relation to water <strong>and</strong> sanitation; <strong>and</strong> (d) presentcase studies of good <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>clusive practices <strong>in</strong>schools <strong>in</strong> relation to water <strong>and</strong> sanitation <strong>and</strong>explore the possibilities of these good practicesbe<strong>in</strong>g extended both to other schools <strong>and</strong> to thewider community.Given the size of India, ERU Consultants PrivateLimited (ERU), New Delhi, that conducted thestudy <strong>in</strong> India, focused on the state of UttarPradesh (UP). A purposive sample of 24 primary,upper primary, high/secondary schools <strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>termediate colleges was selected from 12villages <strong>in</strong> Lalitpur <strong>and</strong> Mirzapur districts <strong>in</strong> thestate. The research tools consisted of acomb<strong>in</strong>ation of school observation schedules,semi-structured <strong>in</strong>-depth <strong>in</strong>terviews withstakeholders, focus group discussions (FGDs),structured activities/role-plays <strong>and</strong> groupdiscussions with children of different age groups.They were f<strong>in</strong>alized <strong>in</strong> consultation with leadresearcher Dr Hilary Thornton dur<strong>in</strong>g the fieldwork<strong>in</strong> February 2009.The nodal agency for <strong>Water</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Sanitation</strong>(WATSAN) at the national level is the Departmentof Dr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Water</strong> <strong>in</strong> the Government of India'sM<strong>in</strong>istry of Rural Development, which overseesthe implementation the Total <strong>Sanitation</strong> Campaign(TSC) programme. TSC is be<strong>in</strong>g implemented bythe Department of Panchayati Raj <strong>in</strong> UP, whichcovers all rural schools for the provision ofseparate ur<strong>in</strong>als <strong>and</strong> toilets for boys <strong>and</strong> girls, <strong>and</strong>additionally, the promotion of hygiene education<strong>and</strong> good sanitary habits among students. TSC <strong>in</strong>UP was launched <strong>in</strong> 2002, <strong>and</strong> secondary data<strong>in</strong>dicates that 28 per cent of the households hadbeen covered by the campaign <strong>in</strong> 2008. Whilemost schools are understood to have beenprovided with h<strong>and</strong> pumps for safe dr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g water,the availability of a h<strong>and</strong> pump <strong>in</strong> a school doesnot automatically imply that it will be <strong>in</strong> a work<strong>in</strong>gcondition, or that its water is ‘safe’ (i.e. free ofcontam<strong>in</strong>ation), or that all children have equalaccess to it. Similarly, while the secondary dataon primary schools <strong>in</strong>dicates that most schoolshave toilets <strong>and</strong> ur<strong>in</strong>als, the field study found thatthe proportion of function<strong>in</strong>g toilets was far less.Enrolment <strong>in</strong> government primary schools is nowover 90 per cent, but the picture changes as wemove from primary to upper primary to high school/secondary school. It is widely acknowledged thatchildren drop out of school for many reasons –poor quality, little relevance of the education be<strong>in</strong>gimparted, <strong>and</strong> dysfunctional schools are the issueswhich have been documented extensively. Thecomb<strong>in</strong>ation of gender, social <strong>and</strong> locationdisadvantages makes some groups of childrenextremely vulnerable to dropp<strong>in</strong>g out.It is believed that at the high school <strong>and</strong> secondaryschool level, lack of toilet facilities could lead topoor attendance of students, especially of girls.While this issue has not yet been researchedxiii
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