Only an average of 35.8 percent of toilets at prefectural high schools in Japan were Western-style, a survey showed Monday, reflecting a lack of state subsidies and low priority given to modernizing toilets built mainly in the 1960s and 1970s.

The proportion of Western-style toilets for prefectural high schools was lower than that for public elementary and junior high schools, which stood at 43.3 percent in an education ministry survey released in November last year.

Of around 225,000 toilets at roughly 3,200 prefectural high schools in Japan, about 80,000 were sitting toilets, while 145,000 were squat toilets as of April 1, according to a survey by a group of national and local lawmakers promoting the installation of Western-style toilets at schools. The survey covered all prefectures except Miyagi.

Advocates are urging schools to quickly modernize toilets as many students use sitting types at home and are not used to squat toilets, as well as to facilitate the use by elderly and handicapped people when accommodating them in time of disasters as evacuation centers.

The proportion of Western-style toilets is higher at public elementary and junior high schools as state subsidies cover one-third of expenses for renovating restrooms, while no such financial assistance is offered to high schools. At larger high schools, renovation costs could reach hundreds of millions of yen, according to the education ministry.

Many high schools also put a higher priority on enhancing quake resistance of school buildings rather than renovating restrooms.

The shortage of Western-style toilets at schools has stirred concerns that children shunning squat types tend to hold back and could suffer constipation. Some experts have also pointed out a sanitary problem as floors around squat toilets tend to be splashed and get dirty more easily.

A member of the lawmakers' group said Western-style toilets could save more water compared with squat types and the renovation costs could be recouped in the long run.

"Switching toilets to sitting types is urgently needed from sanitary and antidisaster perspectives. The government should offer support to high schools as well," the member said.