By Manjima Dhakal
Kathmandu, Sept. 26: At a time when women rights activists across the country are demanding the repeal of taxes on sanitary pads, the government has been providing free sanitary pads to more than 1.3 million female students of community schools for the last two years.

The programme has brought smiles to the faces of girls though it couldn’t be as effective as expected because schools were closed physically soon after the implementation of the programme due to COVID-19. The government started the programme from fiscal year 2076/77.
Bhumika Barakoti who just passed her Secondary Education Examinations from Balkalyan Secondary School, Palungtar, Gorkha informed that her school started to manage all required sanitary pads for them since last year. Earlier, they used to collect money to get a single pad for emergency use.

After the management of pads by the school she became motivated to go to schools even during her periods.
However, the story of Rabina Karakheti of Ram Shah Secondary School, Tanahun and Asmi Dhakal, Prabhat Secondary School, Chitwan is different from Bhumika’s. Ninth grader Karakheti and 12th grader Dhakal are unaware of the free sanitary pad distribution programme. They said they are getting only one pad in case of an emergency.

Despite Dhakal’s claim, Hom Nath Bhandari, headmaster of the Prabhat Secondary School, Chitwan said the school has been distributing required sanitary pads to all female students through focal person after they ask for it.
Bhandari said the school has been unable to inform about the programme widely as it is not running physically because of COVID-19, which struck soon after the implementation of the programme. Though the government managed sanitary pads for all girls concerning their problems and hygiene, many girl students are still hesitating to express their problem during mensuration.

Still many girls want to go home after their mensuration, saying that they have ‘ladies’ problem’ despite teachers asking not to go home as the school is managing pads for them.