One of the most fundamental requirements for any University student is basic hygiene. This can be applied on many fronts but the one that’s most significant to students are the washrooms.
However, we are saddened and disappointed to report that LU fails this basic requirement quite spectacularly. We found that a majority of the washrooms failed on many levels of hygiene and functionality.
Over the course of the last few days, several members of our team, namely Abhishek Raj Singh, Deepayon Sen, Shivanshi Sahu and Tuba Saleh Mahmood, ventured out into the campus with one mission in mind, to check the washrooms of LU and determine how hygienic they are. As University students, I’m sure you all know the feeling of wanting to go to the washroom but being put off by its horrible state. This motivated us to dig deeper and here are some of our findings:
- There were dirty tiles that have had algae and fungi resting on it for so long that it has now become impossible to clean them up, and these bacteria have caused fungal infections among many students. In fact, one of the members of our society got a fungal infection because of the deplorable state of these washrooms.
- As for the equipment, no proper soap or hand wash liquid was found. In most of the female washrooms, we couldn’t even find any pad machines, and those that we did find were rarely filled with any pads. Sometimes money even gets stuck inside them.
- Most of the sinks had tobacco stains, making it disgusting for students to even wash their hands in such sinks.
- A lot of the washrooms aren’t cleaned properly. We found that several washrooms had residue water in them, foot stains (both temporary and permanent) and even the walls weren’t spared from the stains.
- Some washrooms don’t even have proper separation or coverage between male and female washrooms.
- We interviewed some students regarding the washrooms and most of them had the same thing to say: They find the washrooms absolutely disgusting and don’t want to go near them.
- A big issue with the washrooms is that they reek badly. We couldn’t find any washrooms that did not have an odor problem.
- A lot of the walls within washrooms are either broken or damaged, showing how even the sanitation infrastructure is lacking.
- Although a suggestion box is outside the washroom, it’s seldom opened or answered. People never interact with it because of this.
- The washrooms often have insect infestations in them like cockroaches, spiders and lizards, making the already unapproachable washrooms even more unapproachable.
All this really makes you wonder: When LU gets so much funding, where is it really going? Why is there so much negligence surrounding basic hygiene? How are we supposed to function as a campus for the emerging youth if we cannot even provide them with one of the very basic human requirements, HYGIENE.
The lack of proper maintenance of these washrooms is not only a failure of the administration but a failure of the campus itself to cultivate a safe and disease free campus for its students. It’s a stain on LU’s name. A stain that’s equally as noticeable as the stains found in these washrooms.
Attached below are pictures of some of the unhygienic washrooms we investigated.
