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Free pads for schools project abandoned by Government in 2021

19 Sep 2022

By Buddhika Samaraweera   As the number of schoolgirls who do not attend school on the days they are menstruating has increased due to the lack of access to costly sanitary napkins, it is learnt that a programme launched by the Government in 2021 to provide free sanitary napkins to schoolgirls in collaboration with a local sanitary napkin manufacturing company had been stopped shortly after its launch due to the relevant company being unable to bear the high cost of sanitary napkin production. Speaking to The Morning, State Minister of Women and Child Affairs and Acting Minister of Women, Child Affairs, and Social Empowerment Geetha Kumarasinghe said that she looked into the problems faced by women, especially schoolgirls, due to the rapid increase in the price of sanitary napkins. "When I asked the relevant officials, I got to know that recently a programme to provide free sanitary napkins to schoolgirls had been in place. The sanitary napkins needed for that were being manufactured by a local company. However, due to the economic crisis, the cost of the sanitary napkin production for that company has increased greatly. Therefore, it has ceased production now." she said.  When queried as to whether there are any other reasons that may have led to the halt of the said programme, Kumarasinghe said that she did not know much about the project, as she took up the relevant State Ministry only a few days ago. Speaking to The Morning last week, many parties, including politicians, trade unions, teachers, doctors, and parents noted that due to the massive increase in the cost of living this year and the significant increase in the price of sanitary napkins, many schoolgirls do not go to school on days that they are menstruating, thus adversely affecting aspects such as their education, mental and physical health, and personality.  In 2021, the Ministry of Education was planning to provide free sanitary napkins to approximately 800,000 schoolgirls through a three-stage project that year, with priority to be given to those in rural areas. Then-Media Secretary to the Education Ministry Buddhika Wickremadara told The Morning at the time that the programme was part of its Health and Nutrition Programme, and the priority given to rural schools was due to them facing greater issues with the affordability and accessibility of sanitary napkins. Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha was unavailable for comment on the matter.  An United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) survey of adolescent Sri Lankan girls conducted in 2015 with the Government found that more than half of the respondents had to miss school when they were on their period. Additionally, another UN study has found that over 60% of teachers in Sri Lanka thought that menstrual blood is impure. The provision of free sanitary napkins to all women in Sri Lanka was one of the main campaign pledges of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa during his presidential campaign in 2019, which stirred a heated debate on whether sanitary napkins should be provided free of charge, and even whether the subject should be discussed openly in Sri Lankan society. In November 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to provide free sanitary products to anyone in need of them, with the introduction of the “Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill”. The Bill states that access to period products must be granted easily and with dignity to all those who need them.


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