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Inadequate or non-existent toilet facilities at their schools is a major cause of girl students not attending or dropping out of school before completing the elementary education cycle. The young girl students are forced to go out into the field to take care of basic needs, or not go to school at all. Rotarians belonging to the RC of Delhi South Metropolitan have long been involved in leadership roles in PolioPlus programs as well as other health related Rotary Action Group programs for its country citizens. RCDSM has become aware of the sad situation of girl students missing out on the opportunity for completing their elementary education. They have learned that only 55% of the schools in India have gender sensitive, child-friendly toilets. And out of these, 30% are not functional due to lack of water. The average drop out of girls at the early primary level is 10%. Among the various reasons cited by studies, the most prevalent cause of the drop out of girls is lack of a functional, useable gender sensitive toilet.
To address this important need, the members of RCDSM have identified ten of the most needy schools in the poorest areas of the Ghaziabad District of Uttar Pradesh (UP), the largest state of India, where safe sanitation facilities are missing or seriously lacking. They have further found that a large percent of the toilet areas are not even functional due to lack of water. This deficiency leads to disease as well as to drop out among the girl students due to filth, lack of safety and lack of privacy. Thus, in addition to having steel doors, the toilet blocks built with this Grant will have wash basins with running water in each compartment. A submersible water pump (included) will be connected to the underground water system existing at each school and pumped to a gravity-flow water tank that will sit on the roof of each toilet block building. Tile wainscoting and a water tap will further provide sanitation within each compartment.
A member of RCDSM, Rotarian Dr. A. Chadha, is the founder of a State registered Society whose mission is to help the girl child achieve her basic education. Through research, Dr. Chadha has identified the need for a total sanitation campaign for young students, especially the girl students. In 2011-12, Dr. Chadha directed the building of two sanitation blocks at government schools which have now been turned over to the schools with positive results. Rotarians in India and the U.S., including RCDel Mar and RCLJGT, participated in these projects which will serve as a prototype for the next toilet blocks to be built.
Measurable: The success and benefits of having child-friendly gender sensitive toilet blocks at the schools identified in this Global Grant can be measured in future statistics of enrollment and grade completion in the years following by comparison of attendance, retention and reduced drop out in these schools.
Sustainable: Prior to turning each toilet block over to the school at project completion, training for school staff and students, as well as training for community people, will be provided by volunteer Rotarians to assure that timely inspections and maintenance of the toilet blocks will continue.
Accountable: A majority of materials will be made by or come from local suppliers, and local labor will be used whenever feasible. Payments will be managed by the RCDSM whose members will be able to visit the toilet block sites as they are being developed. RCDSM and visiting Rotarians from District 5340 will be included in the inauguration of the toilet blocks, and a plaque acknowledging the Rotary Clubs' donations will be hung at completion of each toilet block in a meaningful celebration to which the surrounding communities will also be invited to participate.
Timeline of Construction and implementation: 18 months, weather permitting.
Addendum: In the event there are savings achieved during construction due to exchange rate fluctuations or other, it is the desire that such funds be used to provide English dictionaries, and other basic education learning materials, especially, for those visual and audio impaired students attending the Vidhyalaya-Gadhinagar government school which is included in this Grant.
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