Free pads help girls excel in education

 Kishapu District Council Head of Community Development, Mr. Joseph Swalala receiving award from Her Excellency Vice President Samia Suluhu, During the 13rd Gender Festival at TGNP Mtandao September 2017

Kisarawe District Council Vice Chair Person Ms. Amina Lilomo, receiving award  on behalf of Council for budgeting for free sanitary pads to secondary school girls 

Free pads help girls excel in education

By Deogratius Temba

Neema Joseph is among the happiest students who sat for their ordinary level national examinations at Ukenyenge ward Secondary School in Kishapu District Council, Shinyanga region November 2017.

The reason for her contentment is non-other-than her results which enabled her to score division two, thus automatically booking a chance to join advanced level education at any government-run school later this year.

Neema plus other two girls of that same school managed to score that high competent pass, despite the fact that their school was facing a number of challenges, including enough books, teachers and laboratories.

She admits that she was able to attend all class periods while in form four, because the district authorities had set aside a budget to buy them sanitary kits which enabled them get enough pads to use during their normal monthly menstruation circles.

“I should admit that I used to excuse myself from school during this particular time of the month, because at times I did not have enough sanitary towels to help me, so remaining at home was the only option. I thank all that have collaborated in helping us” says Neema who is eagerly waiting to join form five later this year.

Neema’s bliss is supported by Ms. Fredina Saidi, who is Ukenyenge Secondary School Board Chairperson, who says that since that school started providing free pads to girls, the attendance has doubled, and academic performance for girls has also increased tremendously.

She says that in the past, boys in the same school used to insult girls while on menstruation, but since they were educated on the biological situation of their sisters, they have appreciated and stopped to shaggy dog them.

According to Fredina, Ukenyenge Secondary school had one pit latrine with only one latrine for girls, but today, the same school has 12 latrines which can serve all the girls without problems, and there is enough water for their cleanliness.

This school has succeeded in this program aimed at providing free pads to girls, thanks to tireless efforts put forward by Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) that has organized some Gender Responsive Budgeting training 8 district executives from Kishapu, Kisarawe, Mbeya, Tarime, Morogoro, Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke districts Councils. After the GRB training held in December 2016, only Kishapu and Kisarawe managed to allocate fund to provide free sanitary pads to secondary school girls. Kisarawe. The Kishapu targets were to support 256 secondary girls with sanitary materials by June 2018. (Kishapu Budget Book 2017/18; pg 90)

Joseph Swalala who is Kishapu District Head of Community Development department admits that girls’ school attendance has improved and there is academic competitiveness among boys and girls.

“This hygienic improvement for girls is not only implemented at Ukenyenge School but we are planning to do the same thing to all the schools in our district. We have set a 5 per cent of our budget in 2018/2019 FY for this particular purpose” says Swalala.

The same views are shared by Juma Chichibera who works as Head of Kisarawe District Community Development Office, who says that there is a plan now to make sure that all girls in Ward schools are provided with enough free  pads every month.

TGNP Executive Director Ms Lilian Liundi said that girls fail to attend classes during menstrual period in some schools countrywide, and that calls for mechanisms in place to enable them feel comfortable while they are in their ‘period’.

She adds that TGNP has established Knowledge Centers across the country to give grassroots women and men access to knowledge, especially Information Communication and Technology (ICT). Also Knowledge Centers push the Local Government allocate resources for free pads, toilets latrines, safe and clean water, and reproductive health.

“At these centers men and women learn about ICT and use the facilities available to self-organize or become more involved in gender advocacy in the country” she says.

Knowledge Centers allow grassroots activists to create a bigger, more active and more powerful network for action on gender issues and other community challenges impacting upon women in Tanzania.

Currently, women account for one third of the Members in Tanzania’s National Assembly, making it one of the global leaders in women’s representation.

According to Ms. Liundi, TGNP would like to work closely with the Tanzania Women’s Parliamentary Group, a women’s parliamentary caucus on advancing gender equality through the work of the National Assembly.

As part of this partnership, TGNP is planning to organize some events in Dodoma to develop a mentorship programme for women MPs and also calls for a parliamentary seminar on implementing the program aimed at providing pads for free to all girls studying in secondary schools countrywide.

TGNP also considers mentoring as an effective way to build capacity through the support of more experienced women MPs and collaborate with people like Sauda Kilumanga who have special interest in girls’ menstrual hygiene.

TGNP sees the need to support women parliamentarians in developing their own network and in strengthening their knowledge and skills as MPs in their particular area of presentation.

When officiating at the TGNP organised 14th Gender Festival week in September last year, Vice President Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan congratulated TGNP because it helps the government offers solutions to some gender-related challenges.

 

She advised women and other organisations to change their tactics and start citing problems and providing solutions for the betterment of the people, especially the marginalised.

 

Last year, Kishapu and Kisarawe district councils were awarded for setting aside five per cent of their respective earnings for purchasing pads for school girls.

In Tanzania, as it is in most African countries, inaccessibility of sanitary towels - an important product to women and girls is one of the things that widen the gender gap.

On top of the distress of having no sanitary towels, women have to go through the ordeal of the agonizing pain that comes with the monthly flow.  

According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), one in 10 African teenage girls in remote areas miss school during their menstruation cycle and eventually drop out because of menstruation related issues.

In November last year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said that the issue of sanitary pads policy among girl-student in primary and secondary schools was discussable. He was responding to a question by Catherine Ruge, Special Seats Legislator (Chadema) during an impromptu question to the Premier.

The MP had argued that the 2014 education policy requires students to study under improved environment disregard their gender, but research suggests that girls do not attend schools for three day or more due to their biological nature.

“I want to understand, there are many girls who do not have enough money to buy sanitary pads, why don’t the government come up with a policy to provide them free?” she questioned.

Majaliwa said the government wants all students to study hard and the Ministry of Health has been working to ensure that girls participate fully in education, promising that the government is ready to come up with a policy that would see girls supported.

 

In some parts of the country today, affordable sanitary protection is not easy to access, plus the social taboos related to menstruation and the culture of silence that surrounds it.

Schoolgirls in the neighbouring Kenya have started to get free sanitary pads from government since June last year.

 

The move has improved access to education in that country where many cannot afford sanitary products like pads and tampons.

The amendment to the education act, signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year stated that "free, sufficient and quality sanitary towels" must be provided to every girl registered at school, as well as providing "a safe and environmental sound mechanism for disposal".

It comes more than a decade after Kenya scrapped taxes on sanitary products in an effort to make them more affordable.

 

The move to legislate the provision of sanitary towels to school-going adolescent girls was well received by many Kenyans.

Since 2011, the Kenyan government started setting aside funds to buy and distribute the commodity to girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In the 2017-2018 financial year, 5 million US dollars was budgeted for that purpose. School management teams in Kenya are charged with the responsibility of purchasing and distributing the towels.

 

Experts say there’s often minimal sanitation and low levels of hygiene in such settlements, as they are overcrowded and lack formal infrastructure.

 

All in all, Tanzania urgently needs proper policies about menstruation and sanitary towels that will help the country’s girls and young women and the country should start looking at low-cost local production methods for these sanitary towels.

It would therefore sound great when the next year’s education budget is prepared, to let policymakers and education practitioners push for a special fund that will support nationwide free sanitary towels. 

 ENDS.