School facilities

Published: 25th Jul, 2019

The Right to Education Act was implemented in 2010 and the first cohort of students to benefit from its provisions completed 8 years of compulsory schooling in 2018. Nationally, substantial improvements are visible over this 8-year period in the availability of many school facilities mandated by RTE.
The fraction of schools with usable girls' toilets doubled, reaching 66.4% in 2018.
The proportion of schools with boundary walls increased by 13.4 percentage points, standing at 64.4% in 2018.
The percentage of schools with a kitchen shed increased from 82.1% to 91%.
The proportion of schools with books other than textbooks available increased from 62.6% to 74.2% over the same period.
However, the national averages hide major variations across states. Deficiencies are particularly marked in Jammu and Kashmir and most of the north-eastern states. In these states, less than 50% of schools had provision for drinking water or girls' toilets available in 2018.
With the exception of Assam, majority of schools in states in the north-east did not have library books available for students in 2018.
While elsewhere in the country the mid-day meal was served on the day of the visit in well over 80% of schools, this proportion was less than 50% in many states in the north-east region.