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Alleviating period poverty in schools: Ministry initiative still on hold

10 Jul 2021

By Sarah Hannan  Discussions around period poverty have significantly increased in recent times, with much of it focused on getting the Government to reduce the high taxes imposed on disposable sanitary napkins. However, lack of toilets with the necessary amenities, lack of awareness about menstruation, and menstruation hygiene management might be larger contributing factors towards increasing period poverty in Sri Lanka.  In a study conducted by the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), it was revealed that about 51-62% adolescent girl students were not allowed to go to school during menstruation, while 37-44% adolescent girl students reported that they miss school because of menstruation due to pain and physical discomfort, fear of staining clothes, and a lack of a place to change or dispose of cloth/sanitary napkins.  Although the study stated that knowledge about menstrual hygiene was high among adolescent girl students, only over 10% of adolescent girl students claimed that they obtained information regarding menstrual hygiene through awareness programmes conducted by the school health committee, and that most information in this regard is learnt from their mothers/other family members or friends.  A lack of water facilities in toilets remained an important reason among 12-15% adolescent girls not using toilet facilities for changing and cleaning during menstruation, while 16-25% cited a lack of privacy. Therefore, the study points out that it had implications for hygiene and sanitation. A large majority of students claimed that there is a separate toilet facility for girls in their schools.  In terms of availability of a separate toilet facility for girls, 95-97% of adolescent girl students claimed that their schools have a separate toilet facility for girls. In terms of usage of school toilet facilities during menstruation, around 24-34% adolescent girl students claim that they do use them during menstruation.  The study had also found that facilities to properly dispose of cloth/sanitary napkins were only available in 10% of the schools and the lack of disposal facilities for sanitary napkins in toilets was a key reason for absenteeism during menstruation. Among the 49-58% of girl students that attended school during menstruation, stated that they do not use the toilet facility for changing/cleaning due to the lack of a place to dispose of absorbents.  Responding to the study, around 9-17% of adolescent girl students noted that they believe that the cloth/sanitary napkin should be disposed of by burning, while 29-65% adolescent girl students believe that it is important to maintain cleanliness of the surroundings and therefore, sanitary napkins should be disposed of in a proper manner.  Less than one quarter of principals reported that they were satisfied with the facilities provided for girls at school during menstruation, whereas among teachers this was around one-third. Providing toilets with more privacy, providing a place to throw away used rags/napkins, and providing disposal bins were suggested as key improvements which could potentially reduce absenteeism.  The Ministry of Education in January announced its plans to provide free sanitary napkins to approximately 800,000 schoolchildren with priority given to schoolchildren in rural areas, but with the programme receiving Cabinet approval, it is yet to be implemented.  When The Sunday Morning contacted Ministry of Education Media Secretary Buddhika Wickramadara to inquire about the status of the programme, he stated: “The programme which is part of the Health and Nutrition Programme of the Ministry of Education is presently on hold due to the ongoing pandemic situation and due to schools being conducted online. The programme, once implemented, will roll out in three stages and will be monitored by the Government Medical Officers’ Association on a district level. The first stage would focus on schoolchildren from rural areas, then the mid-level schools, and finally urban schools.”  While several Sri Lankan companies manufacturing sanitary napkins have approached the Ministry of Education to provide the necessary stocks at a low cost, the Ministry is yet to select a company. In addition to distributing free sanitary napkins, the Health and Nutrition Programme also plans to construct sanitary rooms and toilet facilities in 2,500 selected schools that have over 2,000 students.  When asked about how the sanitary napkins would be distributed to the eligible schoolchildren, Wickramadara elaborated: “We are yet to discuss the distribution process for this programme and would have to consider the number of sanitary napkins that we have to provide per child and whether the sanitary napkins would be distributed at schools or whether we would issue them with a coupon, enabling the student to purchase the product from select outlets.”  Pad donation drive  With the Ministry of Education-led free sanitary napkin distribution being placed on hold, there have been several initiatives by various groups to facilitate free sanitary napkin distribution to women and young girls.  The Sunday Morning got in touch with The Grassrooted Trust Director Paba Deshapriya, who is facilitating one such initiative, where a sanitary pad donation drive has been initiated through the Old Pupils’ Association of Vigneswara Tamil Maha Vidyalaya Panwila in the Nuwara Eliya District.  “With the travel restrictions that are currently in place from many of the households, it is a male that would go to get the household necessities from the nearest shop. This has now placed the women in the households in a difficult position, as they are uncomfortable to ask the male of the house to purchase disposable sanitary napkins for them,” Deshapriya revealed.  According to Deshapriya, the initial request was to purchase 10,000 disposable sanitary napkin packs. However, they have decided that they would first donate 4,000 packs.  “We are looking at utilising the opportunity to donate these disposable sanitary napkin packs to raise awareness around menstruation and menstruation hygiene. Not only will we ask the women to take part, but we are also looking to include the men from the village in the discussions as well,” Deshapriya added.  In the second phase of the donation drive, Deshapriya said that they intend to introduce a reusable cloth pad to the women as well, which will greatly reduce the waste generation. She also added that they are looking to partner up with Selyn and put their “Gift a Pad” concept to use, which will assist with the zero-waste solution for female sanitation. 


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