Data shows lack of functioning toilets for children with disabilities

The account of sanitation in Indian schools is generally presented as one of success, and that is entirely justified. The UDISE+ 2025–26 data from the Ministry of Education show that 98.5% of girls’ and co-educational schools have a girls’ toilet, and 95.8% of these toilets are functioning. Thanks to a decade of continuous work carried out under the Swachh Vidyalaya programme and Samagra Shiksha, India has now nearly achieved universal coverage.

The report also includes a much less reassuring figure: out of India’s 14.67 lakh schools, 40.1% have a toilet intended for Children With Special Needs (CWSN), and only 38.1% have a toilet that is actually functional. That is, less than one in every two and a half schools has a working toilet which a child with a disability can use. In an additional 30,497 schools, there is a toilet for children with special needs, but it does not work. In 8.78 lakh schools, there are no toilets at all. This means that a total of 9,08,529 schools lack a working toilet for children with disabilities.

A ramp is not enough

Access to the school starts at the gate, and the situation there is more favourable. Around 79.7% of schools have a ramp for children with special needs, but only 58.2% report having a ramp with handrails. A ramp without handrails might satisfy the checklist, but it could be unsafe for a child using crutches or someone with low vision. Moreover, a ramp that leads into a classroom but not into a usable toilet means a child can enter the school but may not be able to stay there all day.

This matters to many children. UDISE+ records 22.11 lakh children with special needs enrolled in Indian schools, from pre-primary to higher secondary. For them, a missing toilet is not a small inconvenience. It can mean not drinking water all day, depending on someone else for help, or not coming to school at all.

Where the gaps are widest

As with general sanitation, the national average masks large variations between the states. In Delhi (100%), Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (94.6%), and Chandigarh (92.8%), more than nine out of ten schools have a working CWSN toilet. Of the larger states, Tamil Nadu (74.2%), Odisha (68.4%) and Maharashtra (66.8%) are all well above the national average. On the other hand, the figure is below 10% in Meghalaya (5.6%), Jharkhand (8.5%), Jammu & Kashmir (8.9%) and Nagaland (9.9%).

The most serious shortages occur in States in which a large number of children with special needs have low levels of access. In West Bengal, there are 1.51 lakh such children enrolled, yet only 12.8% of its schools have a functional CWSN toilet; in Bihar, which has 1.80 lakh such children, the figure is 21.1%; Madhya Pradesh, with 1.59 lakh children, has 25.6%.

Of the States and Union Territories with more than 1,000 schools, 14 are below the national average in both the number of schools with functional CWSN toilets and the number with ramps having handrails; these include West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and most of the north-eastern states.

Ramps are easier than toilets

There is also an interesting difference between types of schools. In the case of ramps, government schools are considerably ahead of private unaided schools (88.2% compared with 60.4%), and the same is true for ramps fitted with handrails (66.9% compared with 36.8%). However, when it comes to toilets, government schools fall behind: 35.7% have a functional CWSN toilet, compared with 44.7% of private unaided schools.

The simple explanation is that a ramp is inexpensive and easy to construct. An accessible toilet, on the other hand, requires space, a suitable design, a supply of running water and regular maintenance. India has done well with the easier aspect of accessibility. The more difficult part is still largely incomplete.

Fewer children reach the final years

The numbers suggest what the cost might be: at the primary level, there are, on average, about 1.86 lakh children with special needs per class, and at the upper primary level, about 2.37 lakh per class. For the secondary level, the figure is around 1.76 lakh per class and at higher secondary it drops to about 85,500, which is roughly half.

The figures refer to a single year and not to the progress of a particular group of children over time, and the determination of whether a child has a disability may vary with age. The data do not prove that the lack of toilets causes children to leave school; however, the sharp decline in recent years is difficult to ignore, and the lack of basic facilities is one possible obstacle.

Girls with disabilities have to overcome two obstacles. Although they account for 42.8% of enrolled children with special needs, this is still well short of half. The need for privacy, safety and menstrual hygiene, which is precisely what makes separate toilets so important for adolescent girls, is even more pressing for girls who also require an accessible toilet.

Making accessibility count

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, requires governments and local authorities to “endeavour” to ensure that all the educational institutions which they fund or recognise offer inclusive education; this involves making “buildings, campuses and various facilities accessible”. However, after nearly ten years it appears that more than half the work on ramps has been carried out, while for toilets the figure is well below half.

First, friendly toilets for CWSN should be regarded just as girls’ toilets are currently regarded as a fundamental facility that every school must provide. The fact that girls’ toilets are almost universally available demonstrates what can be achieved through a clear national target, consistent funding and annual monitoring.

Second, assistance should initially be directed towards those states in which a large number of children with special needs have low coverage, namely, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan and, within each state, priority should be given to schools that already have children with special needs.

Thirdly, the count should be linked to a standard. Detailed specifications for accessible toilets are already available, covering aspects such as door widths and grab bars, as well as the turning space required for a wheelchair, in national guidelines on universal accessibility and in state directives like those of Delhi. However, UDISE+ only asks schools how many CWSN-friendly toilet seats they have, how many of them work, and whether they have running water; it does not record whether the toilets comply with the standard. The number would become meaningful if the UDISE+ question were linked to the published specifications and if a sample of the toilets were inspected during school inspections.

Accessibility toilets must be maintained just like all the others; if a ramp leads to a locked, broken or waterless toilet, then this is not access.

It took India about 10 years to provide nearly every girl with a toilet at school, and the next aim should be to ensure that schools are accessible to every child, including those with disabilities, so they can enter, learn, and thrive roughout the day.

(Karan Babbar is an Assistant Professor of Economics at XLRI Jamshedpur. Raunak Maitra is an Academic Associate at Azim Premji University, Bhopal.)