A T-shirt hurriedly thrown over her green salwar-kameez school uniform, 13-year-old Zahida Manzoor waits her turn to play a round of badminton before school is done for the day. Acutely aware that she will not be able to attend school for about four days next week, she is keen to get a few games this week.
A student at the Government Girls’ Middle School Razwan, Zahida promises to return to school even if she misses a few days. But last year, for more than 300 girls from the district’s 1,200 schools, classes ended when menstruation began. And this is what Syed Sehrish Asgar, Kashmir’s only woman Deputy Commissioner, aims to change.
Starting Monday, all higher secondary girls’ schools and colleges of Budgam district, adjoining Srinagar, will have sanitary napkin dispensers and incinerators installed. The district administration’s efforts are focused on bringing girls who have dropped out for concerns of personal hygiene back to school and prevent their absence from classrooms. The current dropout rate is close to 20 per cent according to Asgar.
Read more of this in a report by Naveed Iqbal published in The Indian Express, which regularly gives stories of such change makers. (Link given below)
