Children with trans-gender and intersex disorders are likely to face harassment and stigma while using sanitation facilities in schools.
A recent UN report reveals.
The disorders mean those whose gender identities do not match their biological sex.
The ‘Drinking water and sanitation and hygiene Global Baseline Report 2018’ released in August reveals only 12 per cent of schools globally have improved facility that is not single-sex.
The report notes that at least 66 per cent of schools require children to use toilets that match their sex.
The requirement exposes those with such disorders to harassment or embarrassment. The report notes.
“Students who do not conform to a fixed idea of gender might experience humiliation, violence and abuse when using single-sex sanitation facilities. For example, transgender girls who use the boys’ toilets and transgender boys who use the girls’ toilets in schools are highly vulnerable to bullying, harassment and assault by other students,” the report reads.
According to the report, schools should allow gender-diverse students to choose which toilet to use.
According to the report, schools should also opt to have unisex or gender-neutral facilities to address gender issues.
“Unisex toilets within single rooms could in principle protect gender non-conforming students from harassment, though they might not be as numerous or conveniently located as bathrooms with multiple cubicles,” the report reads.
The report raises alarm on 23 per cent of schools which don’t have sanitation service further risking students to sanitation-related diseases.
Over 620 million children worldwide lacked a basic sanitation service at their school.
“A third of schools in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia have no sanitation service,” the report notes.
Almost one in five primary schools and one in eight secondary schools had no sanitation service.
The region with the highest proportion of schools with no services on sanitation was sub-Saharan Africa with 47 per cent.
According to Global Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF Kelly Naylor, the provision of better sanitation faces a major challenge due to poor funding.
"We face the uphill battle of ensuring funds are prioritized to install and maintain basic water, sanitation and hygiene services in all schools,” Naylor said.