Menstruation is a biological phenomenon that attracts a lot of stigma and taboo. So, it becomes imperative that proper education and awareness is created about it.
Institutions like school form a solid ground for most of our upbringing that includes teaching us about puberty and the body changes that come along with it. But do Indian schools take an intensive approach when it comes to educating their students about menstruation?
There have been instances of girls skipping their schools while they are on their periods in India. This absenteeism results in them losing out on their studies and often in coaching/tuition centres. Inadequate toilet facilities within schools and a lack of availability of proper menstrual hygiene equipment result in this mass absenteeism. Another reason is that the schools don’t take an additional step of teaching about menstruation in detail to everyone.
Ishani Khandelwal, a student from a well reputed private school in New Delhi shares that the nurse associated with the school used to give sanitary pads wrapped in newspaper with a warning to young girls not to make it visible to boys!
Similar cases have been observed across schools in India. The medical assistant usually took girls to a side and whispered about the usage of sanitary pads. The most disturbing thing is that it instilled a sense that the silence is normal, that this is how one should talk about menstruation, in private.
Why Do We Need To Involve Boys In Conversations About Menstruation In School?
Another thing I’ve noticed is that rarely we have workshops for boys related to menstruation. Period workshops are usually a secret only meant for girls, which defeats the purpose of curbing the taboos and myths. It only amplifies the sense that menstruation is a women’s issue.
Even the chapter about menstruation in school is often skipped or taught in brief. Not only does this further stigmatise a natural phenomenon, but it also creates a misunderstanding amongst young boys that menstruation as a subject is not necessary for them.
I remember such an instance in school when in 8th standard, a girl had a stain on her skirt, and a few boys made fun of her. Now, I would love to believe that this was a singular moment of lack of judgement, but it wasn’t.
Most girls around me have experienced similar incidents that have left them humiliated, or they have seen somebody be at the receiving end of it. This is mainly because while menstruation is a part of the science curriculum, the social aspect of it is not dealt with correctly in classes.
Something like menstruation, despite being a widespread body function, it at the receiving end of ignorance and silence around it. It becomes vital to teach about it in a manner that is both sensitive, affirming and normalises it.
While the idea of tackling menstruation head-on and talking to boys in schools sounds good in practice, it is indeed difficult to make them understand the phenomena, but that is precisely the support from the school staff matters.
I asked a few young boys between the age of 10-14 about menstruation and the responses usually were that girls experienced mood swings and stank “during that time of the month”. In general, they tried to avoid talking about the subject because it is a “girl’s problem”.
Schools Need To Be More Responsible In Spreading Awareness Around Period
The constant reminders from teachers and staff members schooling girls on how they should not talk about menstruation with boys raise red flags. There is something wrong with the system. A multi-stakeholder approach with schools, district administration and other policymakers coming together is needed.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program