Equity in School Water and Sanitation

Overcoming Exclusion and Discrimination in South AsiaIndia Country ReportDiscussions with teachers and local officialsrevealed that a lot of work was done in Mirzapurunder TSC and that the district had receivedspecial attention in this area. Equally, the overallenvironment in the villages has perhapscontributed towards maintaining a cleanenvironment in the schools. Five of the six sitesvisited had received the ‘Nirmal Gram Puraskar’for universal availability of toilets in households.However, it was noted that only in one village didall households appear to be using toilets and opendefecation was discouraged by the community.This was a model village. In other villages, thougha majority of the households had some form oftoilets, open defecation was being practised (asreported by children and as was seen during thevillage visit). In contrast, in Lalitpur only one villagewas a ‘Nirmal Gram’, though not in the sameleague as the model village in Mirzapur.Clean facilities in schools that were also beingused regularly was perhaps because of theemphasis placed on their maintenance:Children were assigned duties to clean theirclassrooms and toilets and their work wassupervised by the teacher; this wassupplemented by weekly/fortnightly cleaning bya paid sweeper. In one school, the formerheadmaster worked along with the children andtook great care to make sure that the schoolenvironment was clean. The Bal Sansad(Children’s Parliament) managed the duties inone school.Garbage was collected at one point which wascleared every week. Again, the headteacher/teachers (or the village head) supervised this.In the Mirzapur village where all householdshad toilets and were actually using them, thechildren knew how to use and clean the toilets.The agency of the headteacher, a teacher or avillage leader seems to make a huge difference(see Box 2).The downside of children taking the responsibilityfor school cleanliness and sanitation is that whilechildren come to school neat and clean in themorning, they are covered with dust afterperforming their cleaning duties. Many of themBox 2 One in a hundred to lead from the frontToilet cleaning by children (especially in cases where they have been cleaning the toilets after use bythe teachers) is turning out to be a contentious issue amongst the community and parents. There aretwo teachers (one of whom has now retired), who have been training the children on toilet cleanlinessand hygiene in their own way.A retired headteacher from LS4 PS, who is referred to in nearly all the interviews/FGDs in the village,has an iconic presence in the school. Over the years, he has worked tirelessly for the overall beautificationof the school, including gardening and cleanliness and health and hygiene related practices. He wasalso given an award for his efforts by the President of India. He has developed the school into a modelfor other schools in the neighbouring area to follow, which has resulted in increased attention fromgovernment authorities and community members. More children want to enrol in this school, increasingthe pressure on the teaching staff which results in better teaching-learning practices in classrooms.According to his colleagues, ex-students, and community members, this headteacher used to selflesslystart working on a project himself, and seeing his engagement, the students as well as communitymembers used to join in. A group of adolescent drop-out boys articulated their strong objection tostudents cleaning toilets, but when reminded of their own school days (when they used to clean theschool campus), they confessed that as their old headteacher used to pick up the broom and startsweeping himself, the children had no option but to extend a helping hand to him.The headteacher of MS6 PS also sets an example for his students. Every evening, after school hours,he washes the toilets himself to ensure that they have been cleaned properly. Interestingly, colleaguesof both these teachers are appreciative of their efforts, but sadly do not have the will or the courage tofollow their examples. Said one of the teachers (from a forward caste): ‘Na hamne kabhi yeh kaam kiyahai aur na karenge (neither have I done this job [i.e. cleaning toilets], nor will I do so in the future).’19