Equity in School Water and Sanitation

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EQUITY IN SCHOOL WATER AND SANITATIONIn upper primary schools there were only 7.49million SC children (40.9 per cent girls) and 3.25million ST children (40.6 per cent girls).While SC and ST girls’ enrolment at the primaryand upper primary stages has increased quitesharply over the years, it remains less than thatof boys, particularly for the ST community.However, if one were to look at Gross EnrolmentRatios (GER), which reveal a lot more thanabsolute numbers, the ratios of SC and STchildren to their total population remains far lowerthan the national average. Only 48.6 per cent ofSC girls and 40.6 per cent of ST girls are enrolledat the elementary level as compared with thenational average of 56.22 per cent for all girls.Another significant point to note is that there is adrastic fall in GER rates from primary to upperprimary – even in 2004/05 only 61.5 per cent ofSC girls and 59.9 per cent of ST girls reached theupper primary level. Equally significant is the factthat the gender gap within both SC and SCstudents is high in both primary and upper primarylevels.An analysis of the trends between the 1991Census and the 2001 Census shows a decliningengagement with education within the Muslimcommunity, thereby making the Muslim girl childamongst the most vulnerable group for futureeducation policy planners. Barely 10 per centMuslim girls pass their 12 th standard, and a mere3 per cent become graduates. This analysisreveals that ‘while the Muslims in 1999/2000 wereonly a shade more illiterate than Hindus in ruralareas (48% versus 44% of the Hindus), in urbanareas the gap is much wider – 30% versus only19% among the Hindus. What is startling is theincrease in illiteracy among the women in youngercohorts. While literacy levels were more evenamongst Muslim and Hindu women in the 1950s,1960s, 1970s and even the 1980s, the differenceshave widened substantially among the youngerage women around the year 2001. This evidenceis further supported by the fact that the enrolmentrates of Muslim girls have steeply fallen relativeto the all India average, especially during and afterthe decades of the 1990s’ (Shariff and Razzack,2006).Children drop out of school for many reasons.Poor quality, relevance of the education beingimparted, and schools being dysfunctional areissues which have been documented extensively.In the last 10 to 15 years, researchers andpractitioners have explored different forms ofdiscrimination and exclusion which effectivelypushes children out of school. Severe socialbarriers to meaningful participation of children fromsome communities continue to exist. For example,children from communities engaged in manualscavenging, disposal of dead animals and otheroccupations perceived as being ‘unclean’ areshunned by their classmates. Teachers are alsonot very sympathetic to the predicament of suchchildren. Recent qualitative micro-studiesconducted in six states (Ramachandran, 2004)and an exhaustive study of education of the mostdeprived social groups have captured a range ofdiscriminatory practices in schools (Jha andJhingran, 2005). The combination of gender, socialand location disadvantages makes some groupsof children extremely vulnerable.With regard to children with special needs(physically and mentally challenged), data remainsscanty. While the government has introduced‘inclusive education’ as a mandatory practiceunder Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a lot moreneeds to be done in this area.UP, in many ways, mirrors many of the issues andconcerns that dominate the discourse oneducation in India. A recent independent samplesurvey (ASER, 2008) reports that close to 94 percent of the children of 6–14 years said that theywere already enrolled in school; but thispercentage dropped drastically to 77 per cent forchildren in the 15–16 years age group. Equally,the gender gap goes up from 5 per cent for 6–14year olds to 7 per cent for 15–16 year olds. Whileenrolment rates have steadily increased in UP, thehard reality is that there is a sharp drop in schoolparticipation beyond the elementary level. As wemove from primary to secondary education,disparities among different social groups alsoincrease. A part of the reason for this could beattributed to the fact that on an average, there isonly one upper primary school for every threeprimary schools (ratio of primary to upper primaryin 2005/06 was 2.93), and just one highersecondary school for every 25 primary schools.Effectively, the educational pyramid is sostructured that all children who enter Class 16
Overcoming Exclusion and Discrimination in South AsiaIndia Country Reportcannot hope to complete 12 years of schooling –there are just not enough schools at the high andhigher secondary levels to accommodate allchildren (see Table 1).Therefore, children either drop out or are pushedout at different levels of the education system.Poverty, social practices (early marriages, postpubertyveiling and seclusion) and social normsdetermine who stays and who drops out. Inaddition, some practices in government-runschools could also ‘push’ children out: corporalpunishment, poor quality instruction, teacherabsenteeism, lack of supervision and monitoring,and subtle or blatant discrimination have beenidentified as some possible reasons.At the high school and higher secondary levels,lack of toilet facilities is also believed to be amongthe reasons for poor attendance, especially of girls.While this issue has not yet been researchedsufficiently, it is believed that the presence orabsence of toilets and safe drinking water docontribute towards creating a positive environmentfor learning. It is noteworthy that in UP, schoolsanitation has received a lot of attention over thelast seven years. However, this has been mainlyat the primary and middle school levels. Highschools and higher secondary schools have notyet been brought under the ambit of SSHE, withthe exception of those that function in integratedcampuses.2.3 Inclusion and Exclusion inSchoolsSchools are important institutions for botheducation and socialization. They mirror thedynamics that play out in society, and they alsohave the power to bring about attitudinal andbehavioural changes in their students. Thereforethe culture in school is important because positivepractices can bring about change among thestudents and in turn in the families of the students.Hence, it is important to address them directly.Discrimination and exclusion in school can beobvious and overt, like not allowing access todrinking water, water being poured onto the handsof certain children only from a distance (i.e. notallowing them to touch the water storagecontainers), allocation of cleaning duties(sweeping classrooms, cleaning toilets) only tochildren from specific communities, restrictive useof toilet facilities, etc.P. Sainath, a well-known Indian journalist, hasdocumented the situation of Dalits across thecountry. He observes that in a vast majority ofIndian villages, one will find the Dalit hamlet onthe southern border or the southern outskirts ofthe village – a bit away from the main village.Typically, this hamlet does not have amenities suchas a well, a water tank, proper roads, electricity,etc. that the rest of the village has; in many cases,the hamlet would be adjacent to the area wherethe village garbage is dumped or where cow dungis collected. He also observes that, at least till 2000when he wrote a series of articles in leadingnational newspapers, Dalit students were routinelyhumiliated and harassed in schools, and this ledto many drop-outs. They were seated separatelyin the classroom and for midday meals (MDM) incountless schools across the country. Mediareports continue to highlight cases of caste-basedexclusion in schools (see Box 1).Drinking water is an area of strong taboos andthere is adequate qualitative and anecdotalevidence on discrimination in the use of watersources in schools. Dalit children in some areasmay not be allowed to use the same water potsas children from the dominant caste. When thereis limited water supply in the school, the teachersTable 1 A pyramid of education2004Primary schoolsUpper primary (middle) schoolsHigh schoolsHigher secondary schools & junior collegesHigher education institutionsSource: GoI (2007), Select Education StatisticsIndia767,520274,731101,77750,27216,009Uttar Pradesh129,97636,8745,2057,5611,9357
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