By Christabel Chiwila –

IN 2017, the Government announced that it was going to support 14,000 girls from vulnerable households in 16 districts by providing requisites to retain them in schools.
This development came as a relief to many but the programme was later suspended because of lack of funding and partly due to economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme did not receive the support and importance it needed especially for adolescent girls in rural areas, who had to use other materials during their menstruation periods.
It came as a sad reading for many especially that sanitary health is a must for any girl in school.
In October 2019, Parliament approved a motion raised by former Chembe Member of Parliament Sebastian Kopulande that the Government should provide adequate sanitation and sanitary towels to girls in public schools to ensure they access education.
Government said there were some delays recorded in distributing sanitary towels in schools.
This was due to challenges in data mapping to capture the number of girls in each school as well as lack of funds and due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Data mapping was an important part of the task because schools in remote parts of the country needed to be captured too to ascertain the number of girls in each school.
Government had cooperating partners that were ready to start the distribution of sanitary towels but the only challenge faced was the data mapping which had been suspended.
Last year, 9,000 more girls were targeted under the same project and urged more cooperating partners were asked to come on board.
Another challenge that rural girls often face is the distance between school and home.
“Many girls from rural schools face a lot of challenges and some had to stay out of school when they were on their period which results to low performance and low turn our of girls in schools,” says Marble
Chabala, a mother of six children and traditional councilor of Ndola’s Mapalo Township.
According to the research, a lot of girls fail to access sanitary towels and hence they stay away from school for fear of being mocked by their peers.
Girls also stay at home to avoid putting blood stains on their uniforms during lessons.
Henry Sakala from Media Network for Children Rights and Development says there is need for the Government and other partners to ensure that girls are provided with sanitary pads.
According to Mr Sakala, there is need to ensure gender equity and promote tangible programmes aimed at promoting empowerment and participation of girls and women in national development through access to quality education.
“Ultimately, men and women should be involved in ending menstruation stigma to improve the life of our girls,” he said.
He says it is a well known fact that girls especially in rural areas face more difficulties during menstruation because they do not have access to proper hygiene products.
To Mr Sakala, this sad situation has brought about low school attendance among the girl child.
It is contended that many other girls have completely dropped out of school due to challenges they face during menstruation in communities and learning facilities.
Mr Sakala says adolescent girls struggle to buy female hygiene products because such products are expensive.
As a result of expensive hygiene products, girls end up using rags or clothes which compromise their health.
Some girls in rural schools do not have access to proper water and good sanitation.
Meanwhile, the National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) Executive Director Aaron Chansa has condemned the move by the Government to suspend distribution of sanitary towels to school going children.
Mr Chansa explained that the move was not welcome because the supply of sanitary pads was introduced after a careful analysis was done on why girls miss classes.
He notes that apart from long distances they cover to and from school, girls miss classes due to the fact that they do not have proper sanitary pads to make them feel comfortable as they access education.
Mr Chansa says sanitary pads are a very rare commodity in some rural areas.
He urged the Ministry of Gender to work together with the Ministry of General Education to reintroduce the programme that ensures that girls in classrooms do not skip lessons because of the monthly conditions.
Former Kavu Councilor Annabel Muso says young girls do not go to school when having periods as some experience abdominal pains.
Ms Musonda at some point found young girls lying in the bush because of pain during menstruation.
She found a young girl sleeping on the road side due to pains resulting in her school uniform being stained with blood.
“In the African setup, you are not supposed to tell anyone about the periods but she had no choice,” she said.
She encouraged the girl to persevere after providing some sanitary towels to her.
“The problem with African setups is that there are certain things that we cannot talk about in public such menstruation,” she said.
Ms Musonda says a child learns most things from school there is usually nobody to give proper guidance at home.
“Girls face problems and that is why they should be talked to so that they continue with their education,” she said.
Every girl is supposed to have pads every month until the age of 50.
The pads are sold between K24 and K45 with most girls in peri-urban areas failing to afford the product.
“We only have 21 days to learn in a month which means that the girl has 16 days to stay in school and five days out of school,” she said.
Ms Musonda appealed to the business community to come on board and ensure that the girls in schools afford the pads.
Ndola’s Yengwe Combined School head teacher Lucy Lubumbashi says most girls at the school do not have access to sanitary towels.
The school has a population of 1,500 pupils most of whom are girls.
There is need for the country to ensure that girls attend school without any disturbances.