Chandigarh, April 24 (IANS): Students in a number of government schools in Punjab are being forced to drink unsafe water, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was told on Friday.

The Punjab government admitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that water samples in 2,922 government schools in the state have failed quality tests.

Taking cognizance of this startling admission, the court directed the state government to initiate immediate corrective steps and ensure safe drinking water for students.

The high court said it was a "serious matter" and directed that RO (reverse osmosis) systems be installed in all schools immediately to supply safe drinking water.

The admission about water samples failing tests was made by Punjab Director General-School Education Pradeep Kumar Aggarwal before a division bench comprising Justice S.K. Mittal and Justice H.S. Sidhu, lawyer H.C. Arora, who filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard, said.

Testing of water samples was done in 13,182 primary schools, out of which water samples failed in 2,035 such primary schools.

Similarly, drinking water samples of 6,487 upper primary schools were taken, out of which 887 samples failed, the state government admitted before the court.

Testing of samples of drinking water in the government schools was conducted recently with the help of department of health and rural water supply and sanitation.