The World Health Organization and UNICEF released the report Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015-25 on 22 September 2026. It finds that 244 million children globally had no sanitation service at school in 2025, with India accounting for the largest share at 50 million. The report warns the world is not on track for universal basic WASH services in schools by 2030.
What Is WASH in Schools and Who Prepared the 2025 Report?
The WHO UNICEF 2025 report on WASH in schools is a global assessment of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools for the period 2015 to 2025. WASH means water, sanitation and hygiene. It was prepared by the WHO UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, which tracks global progress on clean water sanitation under Sustainable Development Goal 6.
The World Health Organization (WHO), established in 1948 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), established in 1946 and headquartered in New York, USA, set up the JMP in 1990. The JMP produces internationally comparable estimates for households, schools and health facilities. It is the official body that monitors SDG targets 6.1 and 6.2 on safe drinking water and sanitation, along with SDG target 4.a on safe and inclusive learning environments in schools.
The report uses simple service ladders to classify schools. A basic drinking water service means the school has an improved source, such as piped water or a protected well, with water available on the day of the survey. A basic sanitation service means the school has improved, single sex toilets that are usable, which means they are accessible, functional and private. A basic hygiene service means the school has handwashing facilities with water and soap available on the day of the survey.
Sanitation and hygiene are different things in this framework. Sanitation refers to toilets and safe disposal of human waste, while hygiene refers to handwashing with soap and menstrual hygiene practices. Schools that have an improved source but fail one condition, such as no water on the survey day or toilets that are not single sex, are counted as having a limited service. Schools with no facility or an unimproved facility are counted as having no service.
How Many Schools Lack Clean Water Sanitation and Hygiene in 2025?
Global progress on clean water sanitation in schools has improved since 2015, but large gaps remain. Coverage of basic drinking water services in schools rose from 67% in 2015 to 78% in 2025. Coverage of basic sanitation services rose from 67% in 2015 to 77% in 2025. The share of schools with no sanitation service at all fell sharply from 23% to 12% in the same period.
The absolute numbers remain very high because school age populations have grown. In 2025, about 429 million children lacked a basic drinking water service at school. This group includes 258 million children whose schools had no water service and 171 million whose schools had an improved source but no water was available on the survey day. More than one in five schools globally, about 22%, lacked basic drinking water.
| WASH component | Basic coverage 2015 | Basic coverage 2025 | Children with no service in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drinking water | 67% | 78% | 258 million |
| Sanitation | 67% | 77% | 244 million |
| Hygiene | Low baseline with limited data | About two thirds covered | 362 million |
On sanitation, 244 million children still had no sanitation service at school in 2025. On hygiene, 362 million children still had no hygiene service, which means no handwashing facility or no water at all. Central and Southern Asia showed faster progress than the global average. Basic drinking water coverage in this region rose from 56% to 86% between 2015 and 2025, which reflects large gains in countries including India.
Toilets in Schools: Why Does India Account for 50 Million Children Without Sanitation?
India has the highest number of children without toilets in schools in the world. In 2025, 50 million school age children in India had no sanitation service at school. This is about 20% of the global total of 244 million, which means one in every five affected children in the world is in India.
| Country | Children with no sanitation service at school in 2025 |
|---|---|
| India | 50 million |
| Nigeria | 34 million |
| Ethiopia | 26 million |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 11 million |
| Indonesia | 8 million |
The report also records clear progress in India. The number of schools in India with no sanitation service fell by 14% during the assessment period. This change sits in a longer national effort to end open defecation. Open defecation means people defecate in fields, bushes or other open spaces instead of using a toilet. It spreads diarrhoea, worms and other infections, and it creates special risks for the safety and dignity of girls.
The Swachh Bharat Mission, launched on 2 October 2014, aimed to make India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2 October 2019. The mission built more than 12 crore household toilets and helped all villages, districts and states to be declared ODF in 2019. Its second phase, Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II, focuses on ODF Plus villages, which means villages that sustain ODF status and also manage solid and liquid waste. The school sanitation gains noted in the JMP report overlap with this national drive, including the campaign to provide separate functional toilets for girls under the Swachh Vidyalaya initiative and the Right to Education Act, 2009, which requires drinking water and sanitation facilities in schools.
What About Drinking Water Facilities and Hygiene in Indian Schools?
India performed better on drinking water facilities in schools than on school sanitation. In 2025, about 12 million Indian children lacked a drinking water service at school. This is roughly one in every 20 children globally without such services, out of 258 million worldwide. India is among 28 of 62 countries that are on track to achieve universal basic drinking water coverage in schools by 2030.
Safe drinking water in schools means water that comes from an improved source and is available and free from contamination at the time of use. Disinfecting water through boiling, chlorination or filtration removes germs that cause diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera. School water is considered safe to drink only when the source is protected, water is available daily, storage is clean and quality is tested at regular intervals. The report counts a school as having only a limited service if the improved source had no water on the survey day, even if taps or handpumps were installed.
Hygiene remains a concern. About 20 million Indian children had no hygiene service at school in 2025, out of 362 million globally. A basic hygiene service means a handwashing facility with water and soap is available. Menstrual hygiene management in schools, which means access to private toilets, water, soap and facilities for safe disposal of pads, is closely linked to attendance of adolescent girls. The JMP noted that there were insufficient recent data to produce hygiene coverage estimates for India, and therefore for Central and Southern Asia, beyond 2024. This data gap itself is a finding, because regular monitoring through systems such as UDISE+, the national school education database maintained by the Ministry of Education, is needed to track toilets, water and handwashing in every school.
What Will School WASH Coverage Look Like in 2030?
The report projects school WASH coverage for 2030 based on current trends. With only five years left in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world is not on track to reach universal access, which the JMP defines as coverage above 99%, for basic WASH services in schools.
| Service in schools | Projected basic coverage in 2030 | Share with no service in 2030 |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking water | 84% | 10% |
| Sanitation | 81% | 7% |
| Hygiene | 79% | 12% |
At the current pace, about 314 million school age children will still lack a basic drinking water service in 2030. To reach universal coverage, the report says the world needs a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress on basic drinking water, a fivefold increase on basic sanitation and a fourfold increase on basic hygiene. Only 63 countries are expected to reach 90% coverage for all three elements. Faster action on construction, repairs, operation and daily supply of water and soap in schools is needed to close the gap.
How Is India Improving Clean Water Sanitation Through Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar?
India runs a national school cleanliness framework to fix the gaps flagged in the global report. The Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar, launched in 2016 to 2017 by the Ministry of Education, recognises schools with strong water, sanitation and hygiene practices. In the 2021 to 2022 cycle, about 8.23 lakh schools took part from all states and union territories.
The award has now been expanded into the Swachh Evam Harit Vidyalaya Rating (SHVR) 2025 to 2026. SHVR combines cleanliness with green practices and adds Mission LiFE, which means Lifestyle for Environment, a national call for environment friendly daily habits. Schools register with their UDISE+ code on the portal shvr.education.gov.in or the mobile app and fill a self assessment form.
SHVR evaluates schools in six categories. These are water, toilets, handwashing with soap, operation and maintenance, behaviour change and capacity building, and eco friendly green school with Mission LiFE activities. Schools are graded from one star to five stars based on compliance with norms. Recognition is given at district, state and national levels. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) made participation mandatory for all affiliated schools before 30 September 2025. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, established in 2019, supports the wider sanitation effort in rural schools through Swachh Bharat Mission funding, technical guidance and surveys such as Swachh Survekshan Grameen.
Key Takeaways
- The report Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015-25 was released on 22 September 2026 by the WHO UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP).
- India had 50 million children with no sanitation service at school in 2025, the highest in the world out of a global total of 244 million.
- About 12 million Indian children lacked drinking water service at school, and India is among 28 of 62 countries on track for universal basic drinking water by 2030.
- Global 2030 projections on current trends are 84% for basic water, 81% for basic sanitation and 79% for basic hygiene, with 10%, 7% and 12% of schools still having no service respectively.
- The Swachh Evam Harit Vidyalaya Rating 2025-26 grades schools from one star to five stars across six categories including water, toilets and handwashing with soap.
