Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Chhattisgarh High Court: In a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) regarding the poor condition of government school toilets in Bilaspur, the Division Bench of Ramesh Sinha, CJ., and Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, J., noted that more than 1,000 government schools and a total of 4,070 schools in Chhattisgarh lacked girls’ toilets. Accordingly, the Court directed the regarding the issue before the next date of hearing.
Background
On 27 January 2025, the Court took suo motu cognizance of a news item published in Dainik Bhaskar regarding the poor condition of Government Schools in Bilaspur. Clean toilets are mandatory in schools, but more than 150 government schools in Bilaspur did not have toilets. There were more than 200 schools where the toilets were not usable.
During the pendency of the present PIL, a news report dated 23 February 2026 was published in Bilaspur Bhoomi stating that more than 5,000 schools in the State lacked girls’ toilets and more than 8,000 schools had toilets in abysmal conditions. Aggrieved, the students and teachers were demanding a resolution as they were getting urinary infections. According to the news report, in the Bilaspur District, more than 160 schools have a major toilet problem. There are more than 200 such schools where toilets are available but are not usable.
However, after the Supreme Court’s directive, the Education Department finally acted regarding girls’ toilets in schools. An order has been issued to arrange for separate toilets for girl students in government schools/government-aided schools in all Districts by 8 March 2026. Following departmental instructions, repairs were initiated in schools where toilets were dilapidated or unusable. In co-ed schools where only one toilet was available, it was converted into a girls’ toilet.
The Union Ministry of Education’s U-DISE Report for 2024-2025 revealed that approximately 5,500 schools in the State lacked separate toilets for girls. While the rationalisation process last year, involving the merger of schools, partially resolved the problem, more than 1,000 schools still lacked separate toilets for girls, especially in schools of Bilaspur, Raipur, Korba, Bastar, and Janjgir-Champa.
Analysis
At the outset, the Court noted that according to the 2024-2025 U-DISE Report, 48,757 government schools were operating in Chhattisgarh, which had 19.54 lakh female students. After rationalisation, the number of government schools decreased from 48,757 to 38,000, and more than 1,000 still lacked girls’ toilets.
Remarking that the conditions in government schools were shameful, the Court noted that many schools had a single toilet for both girls and boys, which caused daily embarrassment for female students. In fact, out of the 56,615 schools operating in Chhattisgarh, 54,715 have toilets for girls, but only 52,545 are usable, i.e., 4070 schools had no toilets for girls. Similarly, for male students, 7260 schools had no toilets for boys.
“There are no washrooms or toilets for female students, making it difficult for them to spend even five to six hours in school. This system is a form of oppression against girls. This could be a major reason for many female students dropping out or not attending school at all.”
The Court further noted that Bilaspur did not have much of a problem as per the District Education Officer, Bilaspur, as, following the departmental instructions, repairs were initiated in schools where toilets were in a dilapidated or unusable condition. Soon, all schools would have toilets for girls.
Furthermore, the Court stated that the present PIL was registered taking cognizance of a similar situation in January 2025. However, the news report mentioned above depicted that there was no satisfactory improvement in the condition of toilets in the Chhattisgarh Schools, which was making the everyday life of the girl students very difficult.
Accordingly, the Court directed the Secretary of the School Education Department of Chhattisgarh to file his personal affidavit regarding the news report before the next date of hearing.
The case was listed on 23-3-2026.
[Suo Moto Public Interest Litigation v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2026 SCC OnLine Chh 3846, decided on 24-2-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the intervenor: T.K. Jha
For the respondent: Additional Advocate General Shashank Thakur