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India has made progress in providing drinking-water facilities in schools, but significant gaps remain in sanitation and hygiene, according to the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report, Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015–2025.
The report estimates that around 50 million children in India had no sanitation service at their schools in 2025, the highest country-level figure globally. However, the number of schools without sanitation services in India declined by 14 per cent during the period assessed.
Drinking Water Access Shows Progress
India performed comparatively better in providing drinking-water services in schools. Around 12 million Indian children lacked drinking-water services at school in 2025, accounting for approximately one in every 20 children globally without such services.
India is among 28 of 62 countries considered to be on track to achieve universal basic drinking-water coverage in schools by 2030.
The country's basic drinking-water coverage increased by more than 4 per cent annually during the period assessed, indicating continued progress in improving access.
The report also linked India's progress in sanitation to the Swachh Bharat Mission, launched in 2014, which placed sanitation at the centre of the country's development agenda.
Sanitation, Hygiene Remain Challenges
Despite the improvement, sanitation continues to be a major gap. The report estimates that around 50 million children in India lacked sanitation services at school in 2025.
Hygiene is another area of concern, with around 20 million Indian children lacking hygiene services at school. However, the JMP said insufficient recent data prevented it from producing hygiene coverage estimates for India and the Central and Southern Asia region beyond 2024.
Global School WASH Coverage
The global figures highlight the scale of the challenge. In 2025, 78 per cent of schools worldwide had basic drinking-water services, while 77 per cent had basic sanitation and 72 per cent had basic hygiene services.
Globally, around 429 million school-age children lacked basic drinking-water services, while 244 million lacked school sanitation services and 545 million lacked basic hygiene services.
According to the JMP, achieving universal school drinking-water coverage by 2030 would require the current global rate of progress to increase fourfold. Progress on sanitation and hygiene would each need to accelerate fivefold to meet the 2030 target.
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