Many toilets in Kerala schools are still far from usable.
At a government school in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram Rural district, children as young as four cross the road, which sees heavy traffic, just to use the toilet in a different building where senior classes run. These children are kindergarten students of LPBS Chuwara School.
The situation highlights how states are far from implementing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swacch Vidyalaya mission which comes under his ambitious Swacch Bharat or Clean India campaign.
As the August 15 Independence Day deadline for the scheme nears, states are scrambling to meet the target of toilets in every single school.
Kerala has spent Rs 1.28 lakh for 172 toilets in 150 schools this year. In addition, 520 toilets were made usable, mostly in rural schools.
The state government claims that every school across 14 districts has separate toilets for boys and girls.
"Under Right to Education, every school should have one toilet for every 25 girls and 40 boys. We haven't reached that target, but we have fulfilled the vision of two toilets in each school," said EP Mohanan, Programme Officer of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
But the situation on the ground tells a different story.
After years of waiting, the Balarampura government school in Thiruvananthapuram Rural district finally got six working toilets for girls this year.
Boys and girls studying in the pre-primary classes still share urinals which are in poor condition.
P Surendran, Headmaster of HSS Balarampura school says, "We need funds. Toilets are dysfunctional and very old. There is no maintenance funds. We need to redo these dysfunctional toilets especially now even boys need proper facilities, not only girls."