Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): School Education Minister Rao Udai Pratap Singh has given wrong information to the House about the drinking water facility in schools in the state.
In reply to a written question
put up by legislator Sujit Mer Singh, the minister said drinking water was available in all schools. On the contrary, according to a report of the Government of India, drinking water is not available in 5,761 schools in the state.
According to a report of the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) of the Ministry of Education, there are 92, 439 government schools, but 86,678 schools have just functional drinking water facilities.
According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), potable water is not available in 29.3% of schools in the state. An ASER report of 2024 says drinking water is not available in 18% of schools.
Similarly, 11.3% of schools have water, but there is no potable water. The condition of the government schools is awful, and it has come to light several times.
When the minister was asked to inform the House about the toilets in schools, he skipped a reply. There are 30% of schools in the state where there are no toilets, or if there are any, they are not usable.
In a reply, the minister admitted that all the schools did not have boundary walls and gates. The government is keeping an eye on the midday meal being distributed among students, the minister said.
But the reports about midday meals received from schools depicted a grim picture.
