COIMBATORE : Right to Information (RTI) activist N R Ravishankar alleged that the district school education department does not maintain basic details on how many toilets and urinals should be present in schools as per student strength.
Speaking to TNIE Ravishankar said, “Students from CCMA Government Higher Secondary School staged a protest last year condemning the lack of toilet facilities within the school premises. Later, parents also alleged that the school education department had not taken any measures. Based on it, I drafted an RTI petition to the school seeking answers to 14 questions. However, the school administration did not respond properly. In particular, one of the 14 questions I asked them to provide me a copy of the order they received from the Department of School Education, Chennai on the number of toilets for female students with the strength needed. But they replied lethargically stating that they did not understand the question.”
He added, “Despite this, I filed an application with the Chief Educational Officer (CEO) R Balamurali against the given reply which is not satisfactory. However, the CEO also skipped all 14 questions without responding. This indicates that the school education is not maintaining a basic detail on how many urinals and toilets they need based on the number of students.” He has planned to approach the Tamil Nadu Information Commission seeking a response. Chief Educational Officer R Balamurali told TNIE that he would look into this issue.