Free sanitary towels could help keep Tanzanian girls in school-TGNP

The global development community has focused in recent decades on closing the gender gap in education, but has given insufficient attention to the specific needs of pre- and post-pubescent girls as they transition to young womanhood within the educational institution

In the world’s poorer countries and rural areas – most particularly in Africa and Asia – girls who are menstruating usually can’t afford sanitary towels. Instead, they’ll use old rags. Worse, some will use unhygienic substances like sand, sawdust, leaves or ash. And, no matter what they use as sanitary material, they’re very likely to skip school during their periods.

Research has estimated that one in ten African adolescent girls misses school while menstruating. Many eventually drop out because of menstruation-related issues. These include the fact that affordable sanitary protection isn’t easy to access, the social taboos related to menstruation and the culture of silence that surrounds it.

Much as Education is free at both primary and secondary level in Tanzania. That’s what the policy says, at least. In reality, while parents don’t have to pay tuition fees, they do bear the costs of things like textbooks, uniforms and bus fare. Worse still, the country’s ambitious “free education” programme doesn’t consider the issue of menstrual health. It has not, for instance, made sanitary towels available to school girls – whether for free or at a subsidised rate. Providing these towels is a key way to keep girls in school, as research from neighbouring Kenya has proved. This is a matter of some concern for Tanzanian authorities and education experts: the drop-out rate among girls is high, with many never enrolling in secondary school.

There is no focused nationwide campaign to improve this situation. One pilot project is providing affordable sanitary towels in seven of Tanzania’s 100 schooling districts. Sometimes private philanthropists will provide a school of their choice with free sanitary towels. Such interventions are fine in the short term. But Tanzania urgently needs proper and sustained funding about menstruation and sanitary towels that will help the country’s girls and young women. There are a few ways for Tanzania to tackle this important issue proactively. For instance, the country should start looking at low-cost local production methods for sanitary towels. Imports cost money and this might make any programme unsustainable in the long term. If the government works with vocational and training colleges, it could deal with two issues: the need for cheap but hygienic sanitary towels and the need to create jobs. Poor, unemployed women could be taught to make these products.

Tanzania parliamentarians also need to display political will. When the 2018/2019 education budget is prepared, policymakers and education practitioners should push for a special fund that will support nationwide free sanitary towels. Of course it’s not menstrual issues alone that keep girls out of school, and work is needed in other areas to ensure that attendance improves.

Policy Commitments on Equitable Access to Education

Under international law, states have the obligation to use the maximum of their available resources to realise the right to education. Even when a state’s resources are very limited, it is obliged to prioritise certain immediate obligations, such as the introduction of free primary education and to guarantee education for all without discrimination. It is also obliged to provide progressively free secondary and higher education and to continuously improve the quality of education. This means that it must take immediate and progressive steps to fully realise the right to education and must not take retrogressive measures.

The government of Tanzania has also made a number of international commitments that underline its determination to promote Education in general and Girls Education in particular. These include: the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Education for All and to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The convention commits signatories to ensuring that the right of all children to education is realized and Education for All (EFA) and the SDGs have a target of Universal Primary Completion (UPC) and gender equality (in opportunities and outcomes). The Education for All Goal also emphasizes the need not only for girls to be present in school, but also for attention to be paid to their needs in relation to teaching and learning practices, curricula and safety in the school environment.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) was adopted by the Organization of                            African Unity (OAU) in 1990; the ACRWC was ratified by Tanzania in 2003. Article 11 (2) on education provide that state parties should take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates;

The Government of Tanzania pledges have led to an Education Sector Policy commitment to ensuring that there is Universal Primary Enrolment by 2025 and Basic Education for all by 2025. The Joint MOEVT and DEPOs School Wash and Hygiene (SWASH)’ Strategic plan (2012-2017) aim at enhancing the provision of adequate safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities as well as improving the academic performance, school attendance and overall health of school children. On November 27, 2015 the Tanzanian government issued Circular 5 which implements the Education and Training Policy 2014 and directs public bodies to ensure that secondary education is free for all children. With this Circular, the government has gone beyond its Constitutional obligation to provide free, quality primary education and brings Tanzania in line with the target of Sustainable Development Goal 4 which requires States to ensure that everyone “completes free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education”.

To implement the right to education effectively, states should ensure that a sufficient proportion of the national budget is allocated to education financing and that the money is used effectively and equitably to guarantee education for all, as well as redress inequalities.

The access to the Education sector in Tanzania can be portrait by recalling the statistics regarding enrolment and dropout rates. According to the official document of the URT President’s Office “Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education Statistics in Brief (2016)”, although the net primary enrolment (7-13 years) hovers around 85%, the net enrolment ratio for Secondary Education (14-19 years) decreased from 37.7% in 2012 to 33.4% in 2016. 

Furthermore, the student’s dropout rates are alarming. The dropout rate for Primary Education in 2015 was equal to 10.63% of the total enrolment. In total 85,985 male and female students abandoned the Primary School, of which 39,243 were girls, i.e. the 46%. The dropout rate for Secondary Education was 3.5% of the total enrolment. In total 61,488 students dropped out of the Secondary Schools in 2015, of which 29,824 were girls, i.e. the 48.5% (URT President’s Office, 2016). According to the President’s Office, the 0.2% (corresponding in absolute terms to 3,439) of the total number of girls enrolled in the Secondary Education dropped out because of pregnancy in 2015 (URT President’s Office, 2016). A research conducted by the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) on early pregnancy in 2010, which involved 17 regions, found out that there is an alarming number of girls who leave school due to pregnancy: e.g. 819 girls in Tabora Region between 2006 and 2009 and 331 girls in Morogoro Region between 2007 and 2009 abandoned their studies.  Also the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report of 2013 on 20-24 year old women in Tanzania showed that 28% of them gave birth before the age of 18. As a result, a number of girls have dropped out of school due to this problem.

14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000
0		Form 1	Form 2	Form 3	Form 4	Form 5	Form 6
	Male	544	942	1175	1172	78	27
	Female	9337	12617	7403	5070	149	83
	Total	9881	13559	8578	6242	227	110

Figure 1Number of Dropout in Government and Non- Government Schools by Grade and Sex, 2015

Dropouts in secondary schools is higher in lower level secondary as compared to higher level secondary. Form 2 has the highest number of dropouts (36.3%). The major reason for dropout is truancy (93.2%) followed pregnancy and the least is death

Although data from the government are not disaggregated to shows the concrete evidence on MHM and drop out by merely and generally spelling out truancy, there is a relation between menstrual hygiene and school drop-out of girls from the higher forms. The Community Survey in Ilala District depicted that girls misses school between 2 to 7 days per month due to menstruation. This is attributed to the fact that majority of them have no access to clean and safe sanitary products, or to a clean and private space in which to change/dispose menstrual cloths or pads and to wash (IMBC Reports).

Girls in rural Uganda miss up to eight days of study each school term because they are on their periods, a study of menstrual management in Uganda found. This was due to lack of washrooms, lack of sanitary pads and bullying by peers, focus groups with 12 to 17 year olds in 20 primary schools in five districts revealed. The eight days on average translates into 11% of the total learning days in a year. It's a school absence rate that is hard for the girl to make up for and partly accounts for girls dropping out of high school[1]

Basic facility standards are not met due to poor existing infrastructure in schools. Many schools have no toilets, water and privacy which are very important especially when the girls are menstruating. It becomes difficult for them to tolerate the situation and they often decide to remain at home for their comfort. Data from the Government shows that Over half of all primary schools (56%) have no water supply, and close to half (46%) of all secondary schools are in the same position. Furthermore, the number of toilet facilities available for girls in schools is considerably lower than the Governmental standard rates, which state  there should be no more than 20 girls per latrine, but in practice there is actually an average of 52 girls per latrine in primary schools or more (BEST, 2016)

Findings from ADP and Budget Preparation Guideline 2018/2019,

·         Suggests for the general statements of improving the school infrastructure and environment at all levels[2]with no specific actions or data of addressing girls access to better education, ignoring the fact that the practical needs differ between a girl child and boys in terms of menstrual hygiene.

·         The Budget Preparation Guideline mentions the Capitation Grant in general statement of the criteria for the allocation of the same with no specific gender sensitive lens on girls issues menstrual hygiene management and how the capitation grant takes into consideration of sensitive issues such as sanitary product.

Policy Recommendations

·         A Comprehensive study should be conducted by the Government of Tanzania to deeply understand the magnitude of the problem and take proper actions in addressing the issues of Menstrual Hygiene among girls

·         The GRB consider the issue of free sanitary pads and free VAT for Ensure free sanitary pads in school in Annual Development Plan, Budget Preparation Guideline and Budget Documents for 2018/2019 particularly among girls in rural areas.  

·         Conduct exchange visits for learning on the best practises for countries providing free sanitary pads to girls such as Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

·         MoFP may take a primary responsibility of ensuring the sanitary pads free VAT for school girls are not compromised by Tax defaulters.

·         While considering budgets for free sanitary pads, the government may coordinate dialogues with various development partners and private sectors on strategizing on how to address the MHM in school particularly on providing free or affordable sanitary pads particularly in rural areas.

·         Data on Basic Education in Tanzania (BEST) may need to be disaggregated and classified to show the specific reason for drop out other than merely putting in one basket of truancy

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[1] (https:/www. menstruation-girls-education-uganda-sanitation)

[2] ADP 2018/2019 at page 51