by Anindita Sengupta
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- A government girls’ school in Ernakulam, Kerala, will soon have the country’s first e-toilet. This is part of the suchi@school project, which will construct e-toilets at various schools in the district to ensure better hygiene.
- The toilets will have automatic doors and the system will self-clean after each use. Where water is scarce, water recycling services will be installed. Electronic napkin disposal systems may also be included.
- Each system will cost around Rs 1.25 lakh and the total estimated cost is around Rs 2.5 crore. Funds are being donated by local member of Parliament P Rajeev and public sector undertakings like BPCL Kochi Refinery.
- Eram Scientific Solutions will be constructing the toilets while Keltron will install them (ExpressBuzz.com, 3 May 2011).
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- Lack of clean toilets is a major cause for drop-outs among especially girl students in rural Indian schools. While the mid-day meal scheme has managed to curb this to a large extent, the absence of toilets played villain leading girls to stop attending school.
- Educating children on proper use of e-toilets will be core to the project’s success as they may be wary of high technology during initial use.
RESOURCES
