It is unjust that students are treated as criminals, having simple rights taken away. Going to the bathroom is NOT a privilege, it is a human right. Banning toilet breaks shows a lack of understanding of pupils’ health needs and a lack of respect for children. Schools should respect these rights and not restrict bathroom breaks. Around one in ten pupils say that the toilets at their school are always or usually locked when they arrive at school in the morning and after the last class of the day - This is disgraceful. Newsround Chief Executive Juliette Rayner says:

“We know there are close to 1 million children and young people in the UK struggling with a bladder or bowel condition. And for them, being denied access to visit the toilet when they need to go, can be absolutely devastating.

We recognise that schools are dealing with issues around disruptive behaviour in class and have limited resources for providing additional toilet facilities.

But locking toilets to address behaviour issues is a very blunt tool to tackling this issue”.  

One pupil described the queues during lunch and break time as like "waiting for a ride at a theme park... you could wait in line for the whole break time and you wouldn't even be able to go in the end."

Sign this petition if you strive for fair and equal conditions within schools.