Menstrual Hygiene Management in schools of Nepal

Schools are the places where students/children spend most of their day time during school days. Hence, availability of safe sanitation facilities in school plays a vital role towards their attendance and retention of students in school during school hours. In case of teenage girl students, the bond between sanitation facilities and attendance is found to be direct and much stronger. In the schools where proper sanitation facilities are available, the numbers of enrolment and attendance of girl students in school are found to be in consistent. However, the cases and stories in schools operating in rural areas are much different.

In many rural areas of Nepal, schools do not have proper sanitation facilities. It is observed that the attendance rate of girl students fluctuates from grade 6 and above. One of the reasons for this problem is the availability of sanitation facilities in schools as girl students at this age undergo various biological changes and requires safe sanitary practices. Schools where proper sanitation facilities are maintained face the challenges on proper disposal of sanitary napkins used by girls. It affects the proper functioning of the toilets when disposed in the toilet and if not managed properly on time, the waste could create a serious hazard to health, if thrown out in garbage dumps or in the open.

Hence, in order to support girls education, proper sanitation facilities with proper waste disposal system needs to be developed in the school. This could be done through a simple technology for composite waste disposal for schools through installing an incineration system.

Towards the implementation of this project in rural schools, so far, studies and request from three different locations of rural Nepal has been undertaken and received. Schools located in Sagma VDC, Morang District (Eastern Region), Dalchoki VDC, Lalitpur District (Central Region), Punma VDC, Jajarkot District (Mid Western Region) were observed and discussed towards the possibility of integration of girls friendly toilet in their school. Through the consultation with experts a cost effective and simple design for composite waste disposal system is developed. The incinerator designed to incinerate wastes like soiled cloth, cotton waste, sanitary napkins, paper towels etc and gets converted into ash and other non-hazardous residues. The incinerator designed is user friendly and manually operated.

As an initial phase, the schools located in Dalchoki VDC, Lalitpur District is under piloting and initiation towards the construction of hardware facilities is being preceded. The results after the completion of hardware installation will soon be updated through another report.

We thank you all for believing in us and supporting our initiation towards providing better education for the students of rural Nepal. Please help us spreading the words in your friends and families network. We look forward towards your valuable suggestions and comments on our work. Frequent updates are also posted in our Facebook, Twitter and Blog related to our programs and activities.

Thanks & Regards

Angel Chitrakar