‘Please do not scold/punish us when we urinate on footpaths or walls in the future, because we are taught to do this in our school today.’
This was an appeal by a student named Sai, at the Government Primary School in Shivarampally village in Telangana's Ranga Reddy district, at the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Around 400-odd students at the school, including Sai, lack access to basic sanitary and hygiene facilities, according to activists.
The boys toilet is defunct at the school, which means that the children are forced to urinate on walls, or find other places in the premises, where they can relieve themselves.
To highlight the problem and try to fix it, A Hyderabad-based NGO has taken to social media, to crowdfund basic sanitary facilities for the students.
The Anarghya Foundation has now started a campaign on Milaap.
"There are about 400 children studying in this school. There are absolutely no urinals for boys, leading to open defecation by the kids. No hand wash facility and no drinking water facility either. Looking at the smaller scheme of things, there is not even a dustbin present in this school. Two 200 ltr drums are being used for cooking, washing and all miscellaneous uses," the petition reads.
"The school is in the worst imaginable condition. We plan to construct 6 urinals, a drinking water plant and a hand wash facility. Let's together help them lead a clean, hygienic and respectful learning life," it adds.
"The kids deserve much better. They are our country's future," the petition concludes.
Speaking to TNM, Harika from the Anarghya Foundation says, "We mainly address issues faced by school and other educational institutes, and we have been working with this particular school for a while now."
"The girl students were urinating in a dilapidated toilet building, which we forced the management to clean and refurbish to make it functional. Despite that, the building is still weak, and either needs to be demolished or renovated," she adds.
Harika says that the school children do not even have access to drinking water in the area, and multiple representations to authorities have proved futile.
(The only source of water in the school)
"I have approached everyone from the District Education Officer (DEO) to even the Collector, an MP and a Minister in the state cabinet. The issue is that they are claiming not to have enough funds. Whatever money is allotted, gets spent for other things, according to them," Harika says.
Until recently, most blackboards in the school were also in dire need of restoration, as many students complained that they could not read anything that was written on it.
"We bought the paint ourselves, and gave all the blackboards in the school a fresh layer of paint," she says.
As the NGO has limited resources, they have now opted for crowdfunding as a 'last resort'.
The total estimation for the entire project is Rs 1,21,290, out of which, the NGO has managed to raise over Rs 32,000.
The break up of the cost, along with a link to donate for the cause, can be found here.