SCHOOLGIRLS STRUGGLE FOR PRIVACY DURING MENSTRUATION
Jul 29, 2008
IT was a secret; a scary secret. An eight-year-old girl was in class one morning when she realised that her uniform was stained, with a red spot. The little girl thought she had probably sat on a sharp object, which got her injured. She was innocent, only a Primary Three child, at Greenhill Academy
By Carol Natukunda
IT was a secret; a scary secret. An eight-year-old girl was in class one morning when she realised that her uniform was stained, with a red spot. The little girl thought she had probably sat on a sharp object, which got her injured. She was innocent, only a Primary Three child, at Greenhill Academy in Kampala.
“She was asking, ‘what has cut me? As she tried to hide it,†the school’s counsellor and senior teacher, Joy Nyinamukiza, recalls of the girl’s reaction. “Her teacher told her that she had started menstruation and helped her clean up.â€
How the poor girl faced her curious friends later on is another matter. Although the school has separate toilets for the girls and boys, it does not have shower rooms, according to Nyinamukiza. “The girls change in the toilet. We only have showers for the teachers,†she says.
It might be a lot easier for the child who is in boarding school to deal with menstruation, but what would the one in a day school do? In the past, you had to be in your teens to start menstruation. And it did not even matter, because you would be already in high-school with almost everyone else at puberty. But suddenly, girls are increasingly having their menstruation periods at a much younger age and the reality of it is rather scary and embarrassing. It is a lot harder to bear, if the child is in a school without girl-friendly facilities.
“I am really bothered… I feel ashamed,†says Phiona, a pupil at Matutu Memorial Primary school in Budo. When her periods began one Thursday afternoon, she went and hid in the nearby shrub to check herself, before running home. Why? She didn’t know what to do.
Even the women on the staff say there is no choice. “It is a difficult situation. Most girls have never even heard about pads, so they just run home and disappear until the periods are gone. We only have latrines, but they are not as good,†the headteacher, Joyce Abo, admits.
In some rural communities, menstruation itself is such a taboo that girls are banished to the countryside during their periods.
Although statistics are scanty, some reports show that schools have inadequate safe water supplies and latrines which lack privacy and are also of poor standard.
Only 20% of the schools meet the standard ratio, according to the 2005 Uganda School Health report by the health and education ministries. The majority were found to have a latrine stance/pupil ratio of 1:90 or worse, contrary to the recommended ratio of 1:40. About 50% of the schools in Uganda had soiled latrine walls and floors on a typical day.
The findings further showed that only 22% of the schools had hand washing facilities, and 46% of the schools had safe water supply sources in form of pipe water, boreholes or protected springs within the premises. Only 22% of the schools provided facilities for disposal of sanitary towels.
“Many schools have inadequate arrangements to manage waste and water drainage. Day schools have no bathrooms, which can be used after physical education and also by adolescent girls,†the report notes.
Female teachers who could act as role models are also in short supply in sub-Saharan Africa: they make up a quarter or less of the primary school teachers in the region, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unicef). Martha Muhwezi, the national coordinator of Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE), agrees: “There is no way someone will keep in school without a senior woman teacher. Even those who are there are not friendly. We have received cases where a girl drops out because a teacher scoffed at and addressed her as, ‘you big girl!’â€
But the result is daunting. Although children are shy to talk about it, teachers and parents agree that the average schoolgirl’s struggle for privacy during menstruation is one of the reasons why most of them shun school. “They feel shy, especially when it happens during class time. They fear to go back because the whole class already knows about it,†says Martin Isagara, the headteacher of City Parents School.
“Some go home and never come back,†laments Ibrahim Haswa, the headteacher of Banda Primary School in Kireka.
“My daughter started menstruation at nine, and she looked really scared. She wanted to hide at home as much as possible, but I had to tell her, ‘look here, this is normal,†remembers Christine Oulanya, a parent and teacher.
Research also shows that the pressure on girls to drop out peaks with the advent of puberty. UNICEF estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls either skips school during menstruation or drops out entirely because of lack of sanitation. The major factors include lack of sanitary pads, clean and girls-only latrines and water.
In rural settings especially, menstruation also comes along with problems that accompany maturity such as early marriage and pregnancy. Beyond that, some people also feel that the unfavourable conditions are in a way behind the gender disparities in schools. While Uganda’s gender gaps are closing, the 49.6% enrolment among primary school-aged girls is 1.4% lower than among boys who constitute 51%, according to the statistics at the education ministry. And of those girls who enroll, at least 6% drop out before the end of Primary Five.
The reasons are not just about gender fairness. The World Bank contends that if women in sub-Saharan Africa had equal access to education, the region’s gross national product could increase by almost an additional percentage annually.
Experts agree: “An educated mother contributes a lot for her family, herself and her society. She will make sure her children are healthy and go to school like her; she will be empowered,†says FAWE’s Muhwezi.
Sadly, the education ministry in 2006 rejected a proposal to provide free sanitary towels to the girls, which many people believed could in a way check the drop-out rates. “It is an expensive venture, when you look at our budget constraints,†says the spokesperson, Aggrey Kibenge. “But we have minimum requirements and we expect schools to have separate latrines and toilets that favour the girls.â€
However, the irony is that most schools deny that they do not have enough facilities in place for girls. Most of them assert that they have at least one or two senior women teachers to counsel and help the girls. “Those (menstruation) problems are rare,†says Arnold Ntungwa, the deputy headteacher of Buganda Road Primary School. â€Everything is going well.â€
“We have a sick bay and first aid kits which have pads, and a senior woman who talks to the girls; we have water available,†says Isagara of City Parents.
“We used part of our capitation grants to set up a centre, with basin and soap. It is just that girls get shy to use them because they fear that someone will know,†says Haswa of Banda Primary School.
Way forward
Increasingly, Unicef is rallying behind the notion of a ‘girl friendly’ school; one that is more secure, with a healthy share of female teachers and a clean toilet with a door and water for washing hands.
In Guinea, enrolment rates for girls from 1997 to 2002 jumped to 17% from 10%, after improvements in school sanitation. Schools in north-eastern Nigeria showed substantial gains after Unicef built thousands of latrines, trained thousands of teachers and established school health clubs.
Uganda is also making strides. In 2005, girls’ enrolment leaped by over 3%, after Unicef supported the installation of latrines in 240 tem porary learning centres and primary schools, construction of 330 pit latrines in schools in Lira and formation of sanitation committees to promote good practices.
The agency emphasises that toilets need be to a little more than pits and concrete slabs with walls and a door. Toilets for boys and girls must be clearly separate and students who may have never seen a latrine must be taught the importance of using one.
--------------------------
Getting boys involved
--------------------------
It is only natural to teach menstruation to girls but it's sometimes forgotten when it comes to boys. Yet, inevitably they are going to have questions about it or bully the girls. Wesonga gives the following tips on how to make boys have a good understanding of menstruation;
- Start early. When you begin talking to the girls, arrange parallel sessions for the boys; say from nine years of age.
- Stay calm. If you look shy or nervous, they will think it is abnormal.
- Make it clear that it is a normal stage just like boys, too, go through puberty.
- Consider using short stories and illustrations to explain the process of menstruation. This will give them a better understanding of the female body.
- Be prepared to answer every question.
Let them know that if they bully the girl, they too could be bullied when their voices deepen.
Advise them that they should be supportive of the girls. For instance, when they stain their dresses unknowingly, they should be free to tip them, than laugh.
Tell them about the dangers of premarital sex, so that they should take care.
----------------------
What can be done
----------------------
Winnie Wesonga, a counsellor with Family Life Network, encourages the need to talk to the children, beginning at a much younger age, about menstruation. She gives the following tips:
- Be friendly and approachable to the girls
- Hold regular sessions with girls, preferably from Primary Three onwards
- Hold discussions with parents so they are aware that their daughter is likely to go into menstruation soon
- Try to be simple and humorous in your talking, so she does not feel embarrassed. For instance, you can share a story about someone’s first periods and how they reacted
- Emphasise that it is something that every woman goes through so she does not feel that it is the worst thing that can ever happen to anyone.
- Make it interactive. Let her ask questions
- Ensure she has sanitary towels. Show her how to use sanitary towels; and how she should take care of her body/personal hygiene during that time of the month
- Let her know about the pre-menstrual symptoms or cramps and re-assure her that she can deal with it through exercise. So she should keep active during her periods
- Remember gender matters. Most girls are freer with women, so do not send her to her father for counselling.
- Talk about the pros and cons. Discuss with her issues to do with dating, sexuality so she is aware she is likely to get pregnant if she messes up
IT was a secret; a scary secret. An eight-year-old girl was in class one morning when she realised that her uniform was stained, with a red spot. The little girl thought she had probably sat on a sharp object, which got her injured. She was innocent, only a Primary Three child, at Greenhill Academy in Kampala.
“She was asking, ‘what has cut me? As she tried to hide it,†the school’s counsellor and senior teacher, Joy Nyinamukiza, recalls of the girl’s reaction. “Her teacher told her that she had started menstruation and helped her clean up.â€
How the poor girl faced her curious friends later on is another matter. Although the school has separate toilets for the girls and boys, it does not have shower rooms, according to Nyinamukiza. “The girls change in the toilet. We only have showers for the teachers,†she says.
It might be a lot easier for the child who is in boarding school to deal with menstruation, but what would the one in a day school do? In the past, you had to be in your teens to start menstruation. And it did not even matter, because you would be already in high-school with almost everyone else at puberty. But suddenly, girls are increasingly having their menstruation periods at a much younger age and the reality of it is rather scary and embarrassing. It is a lot harder to bear, if the child is in a school without girl-friendly facilities.
“I am really bothered… I feel ashamed,†says Phiona, a pupil at Matutu Memorial Primary school in Budo. When her periods began one Thursday afternoon, she went and hid in the nearby shrub to check herself, before running home. Why? She didn’t know what to do.
Even the women on the staff say there is no choice. “It is a difficult situation. Most girls have never even heard about pads, so they just run home and disappear until the periods are gone. We only have latrines, but they are not as good,†the headteacher, Joyce Abo, admits.
In some rural communities, menstruation itself is such a taboo that girls are banished to the countryside during their periods.
Although statistics are scanty, some reports show that schools have inadequate safe water supplies and latrines which lack privacy and are also of poor standard.
Only 20% of the schools meet the standard ratio, according to the 2005 Uganda School Health report by the health and education ministries. The majority were found to have a latrine stance/pupil ratio of 1:90 or worse, contrary to the recommended ratio of 1:40. About 50% of the schools in Uganda had soiled latrine walls and floors on a typical day.
The findings further showed that only 22% of the schools had hand washing facilities, and 46% of the schools had safe water supply sources in form of pipe water, boreholes or protected springs within the premises. Only 22% of the schools provided facilities for disposal of sanitary towels.
“Many schools have inadequate arrangements to manage waste and water drainage. Day schools have no bathrooms, which can be used after physical education and also by adolescent girls,†the report notes.
Female teachers who could act as role models are also in short supply in sub-Saharan Africa: they make up a quarter or less of the primary school teachers in the region, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unicef). Martha Muhwezi, the national coordinator of Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE), agrees: “There is no way someone will keep in school without a senior woman teacher. Even those who are there are not friendly. We have received cases where a girl drops out because a teacher scoffed at and addressed her as, ‘you big girl!’â€
But the result is daunting. Although children are shy to talk about it, teachers and parents agree that the average schoolgirl’s struggle for privacy during menstruation is one of the reasons why most of them shun school. “They feel shy, especially when it happens during class time. They fear to go back because the whole class already knows about it,†says Martin Isagara, the headteacher of City Parents School.
“Some go home and never come back,†laments Ibrahim Haswa, the headteacher of Banda Primary School in Kireka.
“My daughter started menstruation at nine, and she looked really scared. She wanted to hide at home as much as possible, but I had to tell her, ‘look here, this is normal,†remembers Christine Oulanya, a parent and teacher.
Research also shows that the pressure on girls to drop out peaks with the advent of puberty. UNICEF estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls either skips school during menstruation or drops out entirely because of lack of sanitation. The major factors include lack of sanitary pads, clean and girls-only latrines and water.
In rural settings especially, menstruation also comes along with problems that accompany maturity such as early marriage and pregnancy. Beyond that, some people also feel that the unfavourable conditions are in a way behind the gender disparities in schools. While Uganda’s gender gaps are closing, the 49.6% enrolment among primary school-aged girls is 1.4% lower than among boys who constitute 51%, according to the statistics at the education ministry. And of those girls who enroll, at least 6% drop out before the end of Primary Five.
The reasons are not just about gender fairness. The World Bank contends that if women in sub-Saharan Africa had equal access to education, the region’s gross national product could increase by almost an additional percentage annually.
Experts agree: “An educated mother contributes a lot for her family, herself and her society. She will make sure her children are healthy and go to school like her; she will be empowered,†says FAWE’s Muhwezi.
Sadly, the education ministry in 2006 rejected a proposal to provide free sanitary towels to the girls, which many people believed could in a way check the drop-out rates. “It is an expensive venture, when you look at our budget constraints,†says the spokesperson, Aggrey Kibenge. “But we have minimum requirements and we expect schools to have separate latrines and toilets that favour the girls.â€
However, the irony is that most schools deny that they do not have enough facilities in place for girls. Most of them assert that they have at least one or two senior women teachers to counsel and help the girls. “Those (menstruation) problems are rare,†says Arnold Ntungwa, the deputy headteacher of Buganda Road Primary School. â€Everything is going well.â€
“We have a sick bay and first aid kits which have pads, and a senior woman who talks to the girls; we have water available,†says Isagara of City Parents.
“We used part of our capitation grants to set up a centre, with basin and soap. It is just that girls get shy to use them because they fear that someone will know,†says Haswa of Banda Primary School.
Way forward
Increasingly, Unicef is rallying behind the notion of a ‘girl friendly’ school; one that is more secure, with a healthy share of female teachers and a clean toilet with a door and water for washing hands.
In Guinea, enrolment rates for girls from 1997 to 2002 jumped to 17% from 10%, after improvements in school sanitation. Schools in north-eastern Nigeria showed substantial gains after Unicef built thousands of latrines, trained thousands of teachers and established school health clubs.
Uganda is also making strides. In 2005, girls’ enrolment leaped by over 3%, after Unicef supported the installation of latrines in 240 tem porary learning centres and primary schools, construction of 330 pit latrines in schools in Lira and formation of sanitation committees to promote good practices.
The agency emphasises that toilets need be to a little more than pits and concrete slabs with walls and a door. Toilets for boys and girls must be clearly separate and students who may have never seen a latrine must be taught the importance of using one.
--------------------------
Getting boys involved
--------------------------
It is only natural to teach menstruation to girls but it's sometimes forgotten when it comes to boys. Yet, inevitably they are going to have questions about it or bully the girls. Wesonga gives the following tips on how to make boys have a good understanding of menstruation;
- Start early. When you begin talking to the girls, arrange parallel sessions for the boys; say from nine years of age.
- Stay calm. If you look shy or nervous, they will think it is abnormal.
- Make it clear that it is a normal stage just like boys, too, go through puberty.
- Consider using short stories and illustrations to explain the process of menstruation. This will give them a better understanding of the female body.
- Be prepared to answer every question.
Let them know that if they bully the girl, they too could be bullied when their voices deepen.
Advise them that they should be supportive of the girls. For instance, when they stain their dresses unknowingly, they should be free to tip them, than laugh.
Tell them about the dangers of premarital sex, so that they should take care.
----------------------
What can be done
----------------------
Winnie Wesonga, a counsellor with Family Life Network, encourages the need to talk to the children, beginning at a much younger age, about menstruation. She gives the following tips:
- Be friendly and approachable to the girls
- Hold regular sessions with girls, preferably from Primary Three onwards
- Hold discussions with parents so they are aware that their daughter is likely to go into menstruation soon
- Try to be simple and humorous in your talking, so she does not feel embarrassed. For instance, you can share a story about someone’s first periods and how they reacted
- Emphasise that it is something that every woman goes through so she does not feel that it is the worst thing that can ever happen to anyone.
- Make it interactive. Let her ask questions
- Ensure she has sanitary towels. Show her how to use sanitary towels; and how she should take care of her body/personal hygiene during that time of the month
- Let her know about the pre-menstrual symptoms or cramps and re-assure her that she can deal with it through exercise. So she should keep active during her periods
- Remember gender matters. Most girls are freer with women, so do not send her to her father for counselling.
- Talk about the pros and cons. Discuss with her issues to do with dating, sexuality so she is aware she is likely to get pregnant if she messes up