On free sanitary towels, the government has failed its schoolgirls
A dilapidated latrine in a government school. While the State provides free sanitary pads to schoolgirls, many lack proper toilet facilities and disposal systems, forcing them to use unhygienic pit latrines to discard used pads.
What you need to know:
- While the government provides free sanitary pads to schoolgirls, many lack proper toilet facilities and disposal systems, forcing them to use unhygienic pit latrines to discard used pads.
- An auditor General's report exposed how the Education ministry has failed to equip schools with necessary menstrual hygiene infrastructure.
It’s no news that latrines in most public schools have either collapsed or health officials have directed the institutions’ indefinite closure to save the lives of children from dangers of overflowing waste.
It is, however, news that the government is distributing sanitary towels to keep girls in school, yet the sanitary facilities are so poor that girls can’t use them to change the pads or dispose of them.
For instance, in January last year, public health officers closed Ogada Primary School in South Kabuoch in Homa Bay County’s Ndhiwa Constituency, because the latrines were full.
About four years earlier, 16 latrines had collapsed in Sukwo Primary School in Saboti, Trans Nzoia County.
The Auditor-General has conducted a performance audit on the provision of sanitary towels to girls in public primary schools, and while this partially addresses the challenge of access, it does not solve the problem of utilisation.
The report dated November 2022, found that although Section 2(k) of the Basic Education (Amendment) Act, 2017 requires the Ministry of Education to provide free, sufficient and quality sanitary towels to every girl who has attained puberty, and enrolled in a public basic education institution, the packs distributed were insufficient.
Annually, the Education ministry is expected to provide nine packs of pads to each girl, which translates to one pack per month during the learning period.
However, it only budgeted for seven, a deficit attributed to budgetary constraints.
For instance, in the 2021/2022 school calendar, a total of 1,675,299 girls were enrolled in Class 6, 7, and 8, the report showed.
This means, the Education ministry needed Sh621,200,869 to buy nine packs for each of the girls. It was, however, allocated Sh259, 092,503, nearly three times less.
The distribution of fewer pads resulted in girls avoiding school, using unhygienic materials like torn pieces of clothes and blankets, and even engaging in sexual activities in exchange for sex.
Worse again, the schools are neither equipped with disposal facilities, nor proper latrines or toilets.
The Act mandates the Education ministry to provide a safe and environmentally sound mechanism for disposal of used sanitary towels.
Further, the Kenya Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Policy (2016-2030), requires all schools to have separate private collection and disposal systems for used menstrual cloth and sanitary towels.
Similarly, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Standards and Guidelines on infrastructure in pre-primary and primary schools require these learning institutions to have at least one cubicle in each girls’ toilet block equipped with a foot operated pedal bin for disposal of used pads.
It also guides that the bins be emptied at least once every week, and the materials fully incinerated at a designated area using a proper incinerator.
But the Auditor-General found the Education ministry had failed in providing the necessary sanitation and disposal infrastructure.
Interviews with 44 head teachers indicated that only five schools had sanitary bins, and were located in towns.
The rest 39 had pit latrines for disposal of used pads, and were all in rural areas.
“The use of the unsafe methods of disposing used sanitary towels predisposed the girls to health risks during menstruation and the school community at large,” the Auditor-General noted in the report.
“To ensure safe disposal of used sanitary towels, the (Education) ministry should improve the existing toilet facilities and equip them with sanitary bins,” recommended the Auditor-General.
