Menstrual hygiene should be a prerogative, period.

India is a developing country yet there are some topics that are considered a taboo. A girl/woman of a conservative household avoids speaking about their periods to the men in the family. If a family is progressive, then it is easier for men to help out their wife, daughter or sister when they are on their period. But not all girls grow up in a family where the father or the brother would go to the medical store and buy a sanitary napkin or a sanitary pad. Usually, a mother educates her daughter about menstruation and teaches her how to use a sanitary product. Earlier, this kind of education wasn’t given in school. But even after a few changes in the syllabus, there were no facilities in the schools regarding menstrual hygiene. 42% of Indian women can’t afford sanitary products and have to use a piece of cloth which can cause UTIs and harmful diseases like cervical cancer.

Sir J.P. High School (Kharodi, Malad West) collaborated with an organization called Blissful Women to install a sanitary pad vending machine in the girls’ washroom. Blissful Women is a company founded by Ms. Mansi Sampat and Mr. Divij Shah that manufactures a sanitary pad vending machine along with a disposal machine in early 2019 and have installed the machines in Gokhale School, Saint John’s School, etc. At the start of November, they came to the school with the idea of the installation and Mrs. Sunita Singh, the Head of the institution, immediately agreed to execute this idea and gave confirmation in 2 days. They installed the machines in the following week and they called a gynaecologist to give a lecture in the school. This lecture was for the girls of 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th std. In this lecture, The gynaecologist and Ms. Mansi taught the students about menstrual cycle, bleeding, pregnancy, menopause, etc. Later, they explained about menstrual disorders, infections and diseases. After the lecture, the teachers took the girls to the washroom to give a demonstration of the machines.

The vending machine has a slot in which you have to insert a ₹5 coin and press one of the two red buttons. Then in a couple of seconds, you get a sanitary napkin. And after you’re done using the product, you have to go to the disposal machine. There is a small window which you have to open and put the napkin in, then you press a red button and the napkin will be burned in 4 minutes. It is pretty cheap and also time convenient. This will save the trouble of going to the medical store in case of an emergency. The only trouble you’ll have is finding ₹5 coins. But we still encourage the students to carry a couple of pads with them in case the machine breaks down. And as there is a proper disposal system it isn’t affecting the environment in any way. The money collected in the machine is used to restock the napkins.

As soon as a girl enters teenage, her body starts changing hormonally and physically. If a school is progressive enough to have a hygienic sanitary pad vending machine installed, girls won’t have to worry about their periods when they leave for school. Even the parents will feel some kind of assurance knowing that the school has this facility. Most of the workplaces in India don’t have any facilities for menstrual hygiene. Therefore it’s extremely important to have such facilities in schools as the girls would learn properly how to use sanitary products and when they become women they’ll be equipped to deal with workplaces that don’t provide facilities for menstrual hygiene.

– Anukul Thete