IT IS the time of the month and 14-year-old Justinah Hamweemba (not real) of Sakende village of Mumbwa laments that she once again has to miss class for four days.
Simply put she is worried that every time she is having her menstrual periods she messes up her school uniform because she has no access to sanitary towels.
Justinah a Grade six pupil told the author that she when she is having her periods, she cannot afford sanitary towels therefore she just wears a pant and ends up messing herself up while at school.
Justinah, an orphan who lives with her struggling grandmother lamented: “I have been subjected to humiliating and embarrassing incidents especially from boys. This leads me to abscond from school at least four days in a month.”
This unfortunate situation however, is also experienced by other girls in the area including 15-year-old Martha Mweene (not real name) of Shakamba village in Nampundwe of Shibuyunji who said that she only has two pieces of chitenge material which she uses every month.
Martha, a Grade six pupil explained that she experiences heavy periods especially the first two days and because of that she needs to use more than one piece of material to protect herself a day.
“In addition, when I am having my periods, I suffer from terrible backaches and stomach cramps. I fail to socialise with my peers and tend to miss classes sometimes,” she recounted.
These and many more are the experiences schoolgirls especially those in the rural areas go through every month they have menstrual cycle.
Their plight is worsened because they do not have access to proper sanitary towels. Presumably, this scenario is no different from what other schoolgirls in other parts of the country experience as well.
Menstrual periods can be cumbersome and lack of proper items to use during this time makes the situation worse especially for these girls who have to cover long distances to and from school every day.
Clearly lack of proper and adequate sanitary supplies is contributing to the high number of schoolgirls absconding from classes; eventually, dropping out of school completely.
According to the 2013 National Educational Bulletin from the Ministry of Education over 500,000 children are out of school of which 241,616 are boys and 261,094 are girls.
Perhaps it is time Zambian women parliamentarians took a leaf from their Kenyan counterparts who lobbied their government in 2011 to allocate US$4 million of the national budget to the purchase of sanitary towels for the schoolgirls.
It is imperative that this gender responsive strategy is adopted by female parliamentarians in order to alleviate the sufferings of the girls especially in the rural areas.
And this development has seen Lukashya member of Parliament of Kasama, Alfreda Kansembe pledging to advocate for the supply of sanitary towels in schools now that Parliament is in session.
Ms Kansembe said it was important that Government starts supplying sanitary towels especially to girls in remote areas who have no means of survival to deter them from using toilet tissue and pieces of chitenge material which is not ideal and can pose health risks.
“Periods bring about all sorts of discomfort for girls who have nothing to use during that time especially when looking at the number of kilometres they have to cover when going to school,” she shared.
Furthermore, it is absurd that there are some civil society organisations (CSOs) which are advocating for the distribution of condoms in schools but no one cares to lobby for the supply of sanitary pads.
This is why it is incumbent upon CSOs to start advocating for the distribution of menstrual supplies to schoolgirls.
Of late the country has been engulfed in a debate on whether condoms should be distributed in schools or not in order to curb high incidences of early pregnancies.
Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWEZA) executive director Agnes Shipanuka challenged other CSOs and Government to begin the distribution of sanitary towels in school toilets.
Ms Shipanuka urged Government to emulate the Kenyan Government which provides free sanitary pads to schoolgirls. She narrated that with the lack of access to menstrual supplies and sanitation; schoolgirls’ educational opportunities remain marginalised.
Ms Shipanuka who is a teacher by profession explained that “a girl who is absent from school for four days in 28 days loses 13 learning days equivalent to two weeks of learning every term. In an academic year (nine months), a girl loses 39 learning days equivalent to six weeks of learning time.”
True the days that a girl stays away from school are many for her to lose focus and interest for school. “As FAWEZA, we do supply sanitary towels to the girls we sponsor in schools,” she said.
Furthermore, Nampundwe Primary School guidance and career teacher Onesta Namakando implored Government to start distributing menstrual supplies for the benefit of the girls.
Ms Namakando feels it is a challenge for schoolgirls in rural areas to even socialise and interact with others for fear that “they may mess up themselves as they do not have provisions they can use.”
She further stated that girls find it hard to dispose of the materials they use during menses due to erratic water supplies in rural schools.
Apart from schoolgirls dropping out from school, lack of menstrual supplies has potential to cause various infections due to improper items being.
Lusaka-based reproductive health specialist Swebby Macha said the use of non-recommended items such as toilet tissue and chitenge material can cause infection in the upper genital tract.
Dr Macha said toilet tissue and pieces of cloth are not meant for use during menstrual periods.
He said the University Teaching Hospital receives cases of pelvic infection and vaginal thrush due to the use of such items by girls and women.
“The recommended items to use during periods are sanitary towels and tampons and not toilet tissue. But in the case of poverty, people are advised to use pieces of cloths provided they thoroughly wash and iron them to kill germs,” he advised.
Menstruation periods though considered sacred and secret should not be a hurdle to education but rather one that must be enjoyed by both women and girls as that defines one’s sexuality.
If this issue is not properly addressed, Zambia risks not attaining the Education for All (EFA) goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 to achieve universal education for all children.
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