The DEO has selected two underdeveloped village development committees (VDCs), Iname and Sirise, for the first phase of the program, which will be carried out jointly by Child Health Division and Education Department.
Stating that many girls don't attend schools during menstruation, the DEO Udayapur has said that it hopes to create a favorable environment for girl students to attend schools even during their menstruation.
District Education Officer Dilip Thakur informed that, apart from the two VDCs, the program would be extended to 43 schools and eight community organizations. Under the program, Thakur added, menstruating girls would be taught better ways to control blood flow during menstruation and domestic ways of making sanitary pads.
Thakur also informed that the program would create awareness among girls and women in the rural areas to carefully handle blood flow during menstruation.
Researches have show that girls and women in rural areas develop health problems as they neglect menstruation issues and don't use proper toilets and take proper rest.
Handling menstruation in the traditional way is a big problem in rural communities.
Girl students skip schools for up to one week in a month because of menstruation.
As part of the program, guardians, school teachers, school management committees, girl students and all other concerned persons will be trained to raise awareness about menstruation education.
As per the DEO, it is also planning to collect information on toilets, drinking water and sanitation at schools though the program so that the attention of all stakeholders could be drawn to address. Menstruation resource centers will also be set up in Sirise, Iname and Makhangyu VDCs, according to the DEO.
In many parts of Nepal, menstruating women are considered impure and spend their periods as untouchables. In many rural areas, girls don't attend schools and have no ways to maintain hygiene during their periods. They are also forced to live in flimsy sheds. DEO Thakur said that the aim of the menstruation education program was to raise awareness about such ill practices in the society and create encouraging environment for girls to attend schools.
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Girls at this community school make their own sanitary pads
