Free distribution of pads keeping menstruating girls in schools

By Our Correspondent,Sainamaina, Nov. 27: Akriti BK, used to skip her school in the middle of her monthly period. But now she has been able to continue her studies after the school started providing sanitary pads to girls. Earlier, for lack of sanitary pads, menstruating girl students were compelled to miss their classes. 

Pads were distributed with the help of Sainamaina Municipality, in Rupandehi district, after the teachers of Durga Secondary School took initiative to help menstruating students. 

BK is from a low-income family. “After getting free sanitary pads from school, I have not missed my classes,” she shared. The school has been providing sanitary pads for the last three years. 

According to the school, it is providing six pieces of sanitary pads monthly to each menstruating girl. 

Recalling those menstruating days without pads, Kriti Thapa, a student said that girls used to have blood spots in their clothes during menstruation. Now, with the availability of pads in school, menstruating days have become easy, she added. 

Earlier, we used to collect fund with the help of wards and school. We used to collect Rs. 5 to 10 to provide pads to girls, said Manju Aatreya, a teacher of the school. 

But now, the municipality programme’s has helped to provide sanitary pads, she added. 

“The menstruating girls used to skip school. To solve this problem, we initiated the work from the school itself,” said Aatreya. 

Hari Prasad Thapa, a teacher of Pashupati Secondary School, said that before the distribution of pads, 90 per cent of female students were forced to drop out of classes in the middle, but that rate has declined markedly. 

Fadendra Sharma, Mayor of Sainamaina Municipality, said that the municipality is distributing sanitary pads free of cost to schools of all the wards.