Law student on crusade to get toilets installed in govt schools; Himachal HC acts on letter petition

In October last year, a law student from Army Institute of Law, Mohali had filed a PIL in the Himachal Pradesh High Court to ensure sanitation facilities in government schools located in the state. In response, the High Court has directed the Department of Education to take action to remedy the situation..Sushant Kareer, a third-year student, took up the cause after reading an article in the Hindustan Times. The article brought to light the suffering of students caused by the lack of sanitation facilities in schools. It describes how students had to be taken 50 metres into the forest because of the lack of washrooms and toilets in their schools. One school had common toilets for girls and boys, while others had toilets which were in terrible condition..The sorry state of affairs inspired Sushant to send a letter petition to Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, through which he highlighted the deplorable condition due to which students were suffering..He told Bar & Bench,.“I have contended that all schools whether private or government be directed to provide the basic facility of a hygienic washroom for the students. The present situation is clearly a violation of the fundamental right to live with dignity, furthermore the students are being deprived of bare necessities of life. I also pointed out that it was detrimental to the security of the girl students, as they would have to go out in the open away from the school premises. The security of women is already a major issue in our country.”.A month after sending the petition, Sushant received a reply in which Chief Justice Mir had agreed to treat it as a petition and thus forwarded the same to the Principal Secretary, Education Department to take appropriate action. The Principal Secretary in turn wrote to the Director of Higher Education seeking the names of the schools without toilets for girl students and the state government funds allocated for construction of toilets for the last three years..Image taken from here.