Rural–Urban Differences in India’s School Sanitation Programme

Abstract

The background to this article is the concern about Health Inequities (HI), recently voiced by the World Health Organization. This short article concerns HI in the context of India’s school sanitation programme. Lack of proper sanitation is a major environmental health risk for children, leading to illness and deaths. Analysis of school sanitation coverage in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states showed up the following results. Coverage has been significantly lower in the rural schools, than those in the urban areas, and has also been lower in the Primary schools, than in the Higher-grade schools. These findings are of some concern since rural areas have fewer health facilities for treatment and children in Primary schools are younger and so are more vulnerable to health risks. Some parents may have been reluctant to enrol their children in the ‘without sanitation’ schools and this may affect children’s education.