Sri Lanka: How poverty keeps girls out of school
When 14 -year -old Janani gets her period, she does not always school. A few days, there are no sanitary pads at home, and the mother is forced to use old cloth pads. In those days, she leaves classes.“I feel ashamed to use clothes,” Janani told DW. “If we remember the school because of this, they will not teach us again the lesson we have remembered, will they do?”A survey conducted by DW of over 500 girls in six schools in the middle province of Sri Lanka indicated that about half -46% – struggles to tolerate the pad every month, with a mark of 81% in a school.Janani’s mother Nuwada works as a tea in the hills of Eliya district and earns about Rs 1,350 per day (about € 4 or $ 4.5) per day. She buys her daughter pad when she can tolerate it. When she does not have a pad, Janani said, she surprised “Why do I get my period.”Nearly half of the girls surveyed by DW said that they missed the school during their period for numerous reasons, including extreme pain. And this is affecting their school performance.“I keep thinking about it, and so I can’t study,” 14 -year -old Girija, referring to period poverty, said, a feeling that is echoed by some of his companions.
‘Some teachers will buy pads for us’
The Sri Lankan government is trying to address the problem as an inch in the direction of recovery after economic collapse in 2022.According to the Advocata Institute, the cost of a pack of 10 sanitary napkins increased by 92% after the economic crisis, which increased from Rs 140 to 270. The imported sanitary pads in Sri Lanka are taxed at 51%.Teacher Anthonyraj Devneshi told DW that his school gave a sanitary pad to the girls in emergency situations, but could not be excluded continuously.12 -year -old Harini said, “Some teachers will buy pads for us, but other people will not.” “If my friends are not in school [when I get my period]I will just come home. ,Harini has to build a long journey house by herself if her parents are unable to take her – a walk that takes her an hour through the hills.There is also no place for girls in her school to dispose of their sanitary pads, many girls told DW that they avoid turning into school. Two schools had a policy in which students were required, who took a pad from the school to buy and hand over a replacement in the next day.
Fabric pads may be unsafe
A 2021 study of the advocate showed that half of the Sri Lankan women did not spend any money on sanitary products.To compete with Sri Lankan’s Family Planning Association, Arka Pahal Director Rashamira Balasuria said that the issue is “most likely” after the Covid -19 epidemic and economic crisis.To save money, many girls use clothes. About 44% of the girls surveyed by DW reported during their period using clothes and pads or a combination of especially fabrics, although they all did not refer to ineffectiveness as a reason.Balasuria said that the lack of sunlight in the mountainous country of Sri Lanka meant that clothes pads were not always safe to use, as they would not dry properly.Girija reported that he started using the pad after developing an infection with a cloth. “The fabric is difficult to use. It seems that it is not safe,” she said. “I am afraid to sit because I worry something can happen. It is difficult to walk, sit, sit or sleep.”At least a dozen other girls told DW that they have also developed infections using clothes.Girija said that his family took a loan from the store to buy the pad and felt angry with his mother when he could not tolerate him. However, his mother said to him, “It doesn’t matter that we have to use clothes, you use pads.” Nevertheless, Girija changes her pad only once every seven hours, afraid of running out.“When we use a very long fabric, sometimes it burns,” 13-year-old Saraswati said, sometimes also uses clothes pads in school, although she avoids changing for the whole day. “It is difficult to walk with clothes, and my hips are hurt.”Teacher Thiruchelvam Mangla Rubini said that there was also a lack of awareness about menstruation, with many girls who were lacking pads, were forced to bleed through their underwear, which they used to deal in the toilet then.
Government initiative is less
Last year, the Sri Lankan government distributed two vouchers worth Rs 600 to every 800,000 schoolgirls, with a final recitation given in September 2024. The scheme was to allow girls to purchase sanitary pads.But Balasuria said that the voucher system was “not a durable”, as the average woman requires about 20 pads in five days in a single month, and the money was simply insufficient. Some girls told DW that the pads they had bought had gone out in a month or two.Rubini believes that many girls did not buy sanitary pads with the voucher, citing previous examples where the shoes vouchers provided by the government were used to buy other requirements.A school principal told DW that he was “100% fixed” that sanitary pad vouchers were also used to buy alcohol.
New voucher is expected this year
The current government headed by Entura Kumara Dissanayake announced in March that it would spend Rs 1.44 billion on a similar initiative, in which all menstrual school will distribute two vouchers worth Rs 720 to schoolgirls.A representative of the Education Department told DW that the initiative would start again in late May, but it was not possible to say whether it would continue after two sets of voucher. MPs have not yet decided on the issue.“If they give us a pads continuously, it would be good,” 14 -year -old Girija told DW. “So they will not run out, okay? We can keep using them.”
