India: 50 million children lack school sanitation services

A report by the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) titled ‘Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015-2025’ reveals that 50 million children in India lack sanitation services in their schools. This figure represents nearly one-fifth of the 244 million children globally who do not have access to school sanitation services as of 2025, the highest number for any single country.

While India recorded a 14 per cent reduction in the number of schools without sanitation services during the assessed period, significant gaps remain. Globally, other countries with high numbers of children lacking school sanitation include Nigeria with 34 million, Ethiopia with 26 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 11 million, and Indonesia with 8 million.

The findings relate to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 4, which aims for inclusive and quality education, and Goal 6, which focuses on the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.