Girls feel let down as govt stops pads scheme

‘Shuchi Yojane helped us to save money, attend classes regularly’

By Hamsaveni N

It has been almost three years since the free sanitary napkins programme Shuchi Yojane ended in Karnataka. Rural schools want it back as it is very helpful for schoolgirls.

According to Karnataka Health Mission, Shuchi Yojane aims to help maintain proper hygiene during menstruation for women and girls. Students from classes 6h to 12 registered in all government, aided, and residential schools would receive free Shuchi napkins.

Ashok Banikal, a senior teacher at the Government Higher Primary School in Kaaradagi,

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Haveri, said: “Post Covid-19 pandemic, the supply of Shuchi sanitary napkins stopped. None of the schools in our district has received free napkins.” No school has received the Shuchi sanitary napkins since 2020.

During the financial year 2013-14, the Karnataka health department introduced Shuchi Yojane to distribute free sanitary napkins among adolescent girls. The Yojane is aimed at creating awareness about menstruation and menstrual health, as well as educating adolescent girls about sanitary pads and their benefits.

This Yojane mainly focuses on rural areas. This is because women, due to lack of knowledge or financial status, use old or torn clothes during their periods. The risks of reusing the same cloth can have health implications like skin irritation, allergies and other issues. As a result, women and girls may be unable to attend school or college on a regular basis.

Girija I.S. Hiremath, an English teacher in a government school in Savanur, said: “The supply has completely stopped. The availability of free sanitary napkins helped our girls to change from cloth to sanitary pads. Just because the pads were available for free, the shift was in fact easy for the girls. Now that the supply has stopped, they are forced to switch back to the old practice. This is because in our taluk most of the families can’t afford to buy sanitary napkins every month.”

Ramesh Rathore, headmaster at a Government higher primary school in Sandur taluk, said he has written a letter to the block education officer and the Karnataka government to resume the Yojane, “but there is no response from the government nor has the scheme restarted.” hamsaveni@iijnm.org

The main purpose of the Yojane itself is compromised.

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