Students have to reach home for defecation as there is no water in school toilets

Pema Lama / Kavre / Feb 1: It takes half an hour for Shubhdra Giri of Kattike Deurali-7 of Kavre to reach her school – Prabha Higher Secondary School at Kattike Deurali-2. But the ninth grader Giri is faced with a big problem when nature calls during school hours as the school toilet has no water.

If she needs to go toilet during school hours, she has to wait until she reaches home in the evening after school. “We have a very hard time when we have diarrhea or loose motion during school time as the school has no water at all,” Giri shared the predicament she and other students at her school are facing. Now such a difficult situation has become normal for us as we are accustomed to tolerating this, she added.

Though there is a water tank placed on the top of the school toilet, toilet taps always run dry, said tenth grader Asmita Gautam. According to her, there are two toilets in her school. One is rarely opened for us while the second that is said to be for the use of students always lacks water.

People from the locality come to fetch water from a small tap remaining on the school premises. There is always a crowd of local villagers on the premises to collect water from the school tap and due to this school students can’t use even drinking water in need, Gautam added.

Asked about the problem of water crisis in the school, teacher Chuda Koirala said the school has a girl-friendly toilet, but students are unable to use it due to the shortage of water. The school has no alternative source of water and a single tap inside the school premises is being used by the locals. The entire village is reeling under the water crisis.

As the villagers, the school is also waiting for the completion of the Churikhola Lifting Water Project as it hopes that there would be sufficient water supply in the school and in the entire village once the project gets completion.

It is noted that the Kattike Deurali VDC was declared the open defecation –free zone last year and but the shortage of water has posed a challenge in the continuity of such announcement, VDC Secretary Kusm Sirmal said. RSS