New Delhi

Ranjeet Ranjan on Monday raised concerns in the Rajya Sabha over the absence of separate toilets for girl students in government schools and urged the Centre to conduct an immediate nationwide survey of school infrastructure.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, the Indian National Congress leader from Chhattisgarh said the ground reality of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme was far from its promise.

“There are slogans from various platforms, but there is not even a toilet for girl students in schools,” she said.

Ranjan cited a recent report stating that over 5,000 schools in Chhattisgarh do not have separate toilets for girls, adding that the Chhattisgarh High Court had termed the situation “shameful” and sought a response from the state government.

Referring to national data, she said that according to a 2014-15 survey of 14.72 lakh schools, many lacked basic infrastructure. In Bihar, only 23 per cent of schools have separate toilets for girls, while in Uttar Pradesh the figure is 69 per cent. In Jammu and Kashmir, 1,321 government schools have no toilets.

Citing data from UNICEF, she said 22 per cent of schools lack basic infrastructure for girls and around 2.3 crore girls drop out due to the absence of facilities such as clean water, soap and sanitary napkins.

“Is Beti Bachao Beti Padhao confined only to speeches and advertisements?” she asked.

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Ranjan urged the government to conduct a nationwide survey of school infrastructure on a war footing and ensure that every government school has separate, clean toilets along with water, soap and sanitary napkins for girl students.