Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN, 11 May 2014
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that separate toilets for boys and girls as well as drinking water facility were integral to right to education and ordered that all schools, including those run by minority community, must make provision for them.
A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice V Gopala Gowda said the May 6 judgment of the 5-judge constitution bench, which had exempted the minority-run schools from admitting poor and backward students under the Right to Education Act, had not diluted the mandate of the RTE Act for toilet and drinking water facilities in all schools.
The bench said separate toilets and drinking water facilities "are essential for basic human rights that enhance the atmosphere where the education is imparted. It can also be put in the compartment of basic needs and requirements in schools."
The bench was dealing with an application filed by JK Raju complaining that though the Supreme Court in 2012 had upheld the validity of RTE Act, the Andhra Pradesh government had not implemented the direction for providing toilet and drinking water facilities in the state.
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