The privilege and right to education is unisex in this country. With all the challenges internal and external facing the Education sector. There’s a new predator that is raising its hands on the sector.
At the beginning it seemed ordinary however, of late it’s holding the sector at ransom and this destruction is MENSTRUATION
Menstruation is a woman’s monthly bleeding, often called “period “. All girls with an average of 12 years under go their periods monthly.
According to Wikipedia
They will miss it when pregnant or after reaching menopause. According to Uganda4her, a research NGO 28% adolescent girls miss a minimum of 4 school days per cycle which leads to poor performance in class. Very many NGOs like Reproductive Health Uganda, Twaweza East Africa, Rwenzori Network for sanitation, Uganda Health Marketing Group have come up with campaigns and funds to support girls especially in the rural areas of the country to keep in school like their fellows in urban centers.
These NGOs give out free re-usable and non-re-usable pads. A non-reusable pad is used once, re-usable sanitary pads can be washed and used again for a period of 3 to 6 months. They are also teaching girls to make re-usable pads themselves so that they can keep in school.
Girl up initiative Uganda, is one of the organizations that have achieved success here since 2015.
These among many more other efforts are being put to action like sensitization of girls on menstrual hygiene, sensitizing boys about the importance of supporting girls in their period rather than stigmatizing them. The government through the ministry of water and environmental is trying to increase access to clean water from 38.9% in urban and 7.1% in rural areas.
Availability of clean water can help the girls to properly wash the re usable pads and use them for longer. This also solves the problem of pad disposal and also reduce the amount of money spent on pads annually.
According to the 2021 market survey a pack of pads go for 3500 to 4000 , this averages to about 1us dollar and majority of parents especially in rural areas may not be in position to afford this. In the end, rural parents choose to marry off their daughters at an innocent age which is very unfortunate to the girls future.
We therefore rally the government to come up with a policy that will prioritize and advocate for menstrual hygiene sensitization among boys and girls, counseling to the victims, construction of infrastructure like toilets, water sources , changing rooms for girls for changing pads during menstruation period, and establish a fund for conducting more work to do away with this girl child education predator .
Article by, KATONGOLE ARNOLD.
