Chitradurga MP and former Karnataka deputy chief minister, Govind Karjol, who belongs to the BJP, is in the news after a statement he made. Karjol said, "What is wrong if students wash toilets in schools? In Japan, teachers and students clean toilets." The statement has caught people’s attention, and people are saying that it should not lead to 'caste discrimination' and 'gender stereotyping'.
Karjol added that when studying, he used to 'sweep and clean' the hostel. When a teacher hands a student a broom, it is seen as a crime which makes the student believe that the job of cleaning is inferior, he said.
"We have seen videos where teachers make students wash toilets. Action is being taken against them. Giving broom to students is being seen as a crime, due to which the students feel that the work of cleaning is inferior. Instead, it is necessary to teach children about cleanliness," he added.
On Karjol's statement, Seetharamu M S, a former professor of Institute for Social and Economic Change, said that there is nothing wrong in getting the toilets cleaned by students, however, there should not be any discrimination, and the cleaning work should be done on a rotation basis. Niranjanaradhya V P, an educationist saying that "Karjol's statement is astonishing". "It is easy to say children should clean toilets, but finally, it would fall upon children from the Dalit community," he added.