The recommendation of the Committee on Petitions to the Education Department to urge schoolchildren to clean toilets on school premises and keep their environment clean has been slammed by child right activists.
The Committee on Petitions, in its 19th report, has asked the department to frame a rule within six months to ensure that students from classes 6 to 12 of both government and private schools clean their school premises, including the toilets, on the model of the Sri Ramakrishna Ashram in Mysuru.
The committee has also said that students from classes 9 to 12 should keep the surroundings of the school in a 100-m radius clean. It means they have to clean toilets and roads in the school surroundings, and spend two hours a week on it. The report suggests that children should participate in keeping their surroundings clean and impose fine on those who dirty the environment.
Nagasimha G. Rao, director, Child Rights Trust, said it was likely that private schools would not implement it while government schools would.
The recommendation, if implemented, would lead to discrimination in schools where students from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would become “victims” of this move. “We have observed that in many government schools where there are no group D workers, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are made to clean the toilets. We strongly oppose this move,” he added.
Other recommendations of the committee include ensuring that private toilets — meant for personal use — should be cleaned by the person who uses it. It also states that on Gandhi Jayanti, people should clean their own roads and give the safai karmacharis a holiday.
Committee on Petitions has asked Education Department to frame a rule to ensure that students from classes 6 to 12 clean their school premises, including toilets
