The exhibition features 43 photographs taken by five Nepali photo journalists portraying sanitation problems in five locations of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, and Kavre districts. [break]
Rajesh Gurung, Shruti Shrestha, Rocky Prajapati, Kabita Thapa, and Bijay Gajmer are the photographers of the project whose photos are on display.
“The photos show the problems faced by girl students due to limited access to sanitation facilities,” said Anita Pradhan, Communications and Gender Officer of WaterAid Nepal. “It’s so unfortunate that some girls drop out of school just because of lack of sanitation in their schools.”
Anita further said that in some schools there are no toilets, and even if there are toilets, the condition is very poor. Most schools don’t have gender-friendly toilets.
She also informed that according to Nepal Government’s policy, schools must have one toilet for every 50 students. However, WaterAid’s recent analysis shows that the average data in Nepal is one toilet for every 127 students.
Bunu Nepal, a young girl and the youngest participant at the program, launched the “District-wise Girl Students’ Access to Sanitation in Community Schools,” a data set prepared by WaterAid Nepal.
The images on display depict problems ranging from lack of toilets and sanitation facilities to psychological and academic problems.
“The problems about sanitation aren’t just limited to physical ones,” said Bijay Gajmer, photojournalist at Republica National Daily and a participant of the project.
“Menstruation is still a taboo and they don’t talk about it. I came to know during the project that during menstruation, they can’t concentrate on studies and they have added psychological effects,” added Bijay.
He further said that just building toilets won’t solve the problems; awareness has to be raised as well.
“The problems and requirements of young girls and adolescent girls are different,” said Shruti Shrestha, photojournalist at Kantipur Publications. “There are no proper places and no water available during menstruation for girls students,” said Shruti.
She also informed that some schools provided sanitary pads to girls during their menstruation but some schools did not even have enough toilets. She also said that the girls have privacy problems due to holes on the doors and walls.
“Though there was good infrastructure in some schools, they weren’t in good condition, and there was lack of water,” Shruti added.
The exhibition will continue until August 13 and is open from 9 AM to 5 PM.
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