Equity in School Water and Sanitation

More documents

Recommendations

Info

EQUITY IN SCHOOL WATER AND SANITATIONvery large country, UP is a microcosm of the countryin many ways. The state is one of the moreeducationally backward states in the country whereinequality among social groups is pronounced, andthe status of women has remained an area ofconcern. The sex ratio – a sensitive indicator ofwomen’s status – is low at 898 (number of womento 1,000 men), and female literacy is also low at42.2 per cent (as compared with male literacy at68.8 per cent); 21.1 per cent of the state’spopulation consists of Scheduled Castes (SC),though the percentage of Scheduled Tribes (ST) 1is low at 0.1 per cent (GoI, 2006). At all stages ofschooling, the proportion of girls to boys isconsistently low – especially amongst SC and STcommunities.Another compelling reason for selecting UP wasthat over the years the state has received Waterand Sanitation (WATSAN) hardware and softwareinputs in many areas of its 70 districts. Efforts havealso been underway to strengthen a school healthand sanitation programme. It was hence felt bothby UNICEF and ERU that it would be possible totease out sufficient evidence to understand thecorrelation between WATSAN and the educationindicators in this state.It was agreed that the India team would focus ontwo districts (out of the 70) in the state, and thatthe sample selection would be purposive anddesigned to capture the impact of good and not sogood water and sanitation programmes.Additionally the focus of the team would also beon social exclusion in schools.Lalitpur is a focus district of the UNICEF IndiaCountry Office (UNICEF ICO), where efforts areongoing to ensure convergence of different sectorsthat impact on the overall health and wellbeing ofchildren. Therefore, UNICEF ICO recommendedthat Lalitpur be selected as one of the sampledistricts. This was agreed to in Kathmandu. Thesecond district, Mirzapur (in the eastern part of UP),was chosen after extensive consultations/discussions with UNICEF ICO as well as UNICEFLucknow 2 WES and the education teams.Draft research tools were developed by ERU inearly January 2009, and finalized afterconsultations with the lead researcher (refer toAnnex 3). The tools were translated into Hindi, asthis is the spoken language in the region selectedfor the study. Field-testing of the tools in the Rajgarhblock of Mirzapur district was completed in earlyFebruary 2009.Data collection from 24 schools at 12 sites in thetwo districts was completed during February 2009.A review workshop with all senior researchers andfield investigators was held in Lucknow on 14 March2009 after data entry/analysis had been completed.1.5 Report OutlineThis report conforms to the agreed outlinedeveloped by the lead researcher. Chapter 1,Introduction, is followed by the Context in Chapter2. Chapter 3 delineates the Methodology, whileChapter 4 tables the Findings and their Analysis.Chapter 5 contains the Conclusions andRecommendations. Finally, Chapter 6 provides theConclusions and Recommendations from theRegional Perspective document, whichsummarizes the findings for all the country studiesand goes beyond to raise issues that need to beaddressed by those operating at the level of nationalpolicy, by those involved in implementation, and atschool level. Thus the conclusions andrecommendations for India given in Chapter 5 canbe seen here in a wider regional context.There are five annexes. Annex 1 describes theresearch methodology for the overall four-countrystudy; Annex 2 provides detailed research data forthe India study; and Annex 3 lists the research toolsused. Annex 4 provides some case studies tosupplement those in the main text. Finally, Annex5 provides excerpts from SSHE guidelines.In this study, a conscious effort has been made toidentify both subtle and blatant forms ofdiscrimination and exclusion, as this will be criticalin understanding why and how water and sanitationprogrammes in schools should be positioned andwhat kind of social preparation is essential toensure that the intervention does not accentuateexisting inequalities and instead provides anopportunity to promote the spirit of equality andjustice. The gap between availability and usage,and also whether existing social exclusion patternsrestrict the use of facilities by all the children, isalso explored.1SC and ST communities are considered to be among the most disadvantaged social groups in India.2Lucknow is the capital of UP.2
2ContextOvercoming Exclusion and Discrimination in South AsiaIndia Country ReportIndia is among the most populous countries inthe world and has a heterogeneous populationthat was estimated to be well over 1.13 billion in2005. It has a quasi-federal structure wheregovernance is considerably decentralized. Thecountry has 29 states, 6 union territories, 612districts, some 7,928 development blocks, 3 andalmost 240,000 local self-government institutionsthat are all directly or indirectly involved in decisionmaking. The rich cultural and linguistic diversityof India is both its greatest strength as well as achallenge. The complex relationship betweenregions, communities, religions and ethnic groupsframes the social, political and cultural life of thepeople.The UNDP human development index rankedIndia 128 in 2007/08 and in the education index,India ranked a low 143 out of 177 (UNDP, 2008).While the country has made substantial progressover the last decade in enrolling children at theprimary school level, the combined grossenrolment ratios, as well as adult literacy rates,are still low. In recent years, physical access toprimary schools has improved considerably with152,304 new primary schools and 110,830 newupper primary schools having been opened since1990 (GoI, 2006). The decade of the 1990s sawa sharp increase in the rate of improvement ingirls’ education and women’s literacy. The 2001Census revealed that 75 per cent of men and 54per cent of women were literate and a 20percentage point increase was recorded inwomen’s literacy from 1991 to 2001.Notwithstanding the overall progress recorded, theCensus also noted that in rural India, only 46 percent of the women were literate; while amongstMuslims, this figure was as low as 43 per centamong women.2.1 Country Overview of Waterand SanitationThe nodal agency for Water and Sanitation(WATSAN) is the Department of Drinking WaterSupply in the Government of India’s Ministry ofRural Development. This department oversees theimplementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign(TSC) programme and the Accelerated RuralWater Supply Programme through the RajivGandhi National Drinking Water Mission. 4 Theobjectives of these programmes include, inter alia,bringing about an improvement in the generalquality of life in rural areas via acceleratedsanitation coverage and provision of access totoilets for all by 2012, as well as ensuring safedrinking water availability in all rural habitationswith a population of 100 and above. All ruralschools are to be provided with separate urinalsand toilets for boys and girls. Additionally, TSCpromotes hygiene education and good sanitaryhabits among students.3A development block is a sub-district level administrative unit for developmental work.4The Panchayati Raj Department is the nodal agency identified to implement TSC in UP. This depends on the convergence ofseveral government schemes to implement its programmes. Funds are accessed not only from TSC, but also from StateFinance Commission grants and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Additionally, enlightened villagesparticipate in a ‘competition’ for the prestigious Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) for attaining ‘open-defecation-free status’. Theprize money, a one-time cash incentive, can be utilized by the gram sabha for furthering TSC objectives within their community.Of late, on an experimental basis, 13 (out of 8,680) gram panchayats of Varanasi region have also started contributing forcleaning village roads/streets, etc., through a sanitation tax. ‘Although there are still many who are not paying the tax inShivdaspur, most of the villagers see it as a positive change towards better self-governance and are confident that socialpressure will help to ensure 100 per cent participation of all the villagers in the near future’ (Government of UP and UNICEF,2008).3
Page 1: EQUITY IN SCHOOLWATER AND SANITATIO
Page 4 and 5: Cover Photo: © UNICEF/India/Sanjay
Page 6 and 7: EQUITY IN SCHOOL WATER AND SANITATI
Page 72 and 73:
EQUITY IN SCHOOL WATER AND SANITATI
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
Page 78 and 79:
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96:
show all

Equity in School Water and Sanitation

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?