Bahini Scheme

In News

• The Sikkim government is set to announce a scheme to install vending machines to dispense sanitary napkins.

Bahini Scheme

• Objective:
  • To provide free sanitary pads in all its 210 secondary and senior secondary government schools across the state.
• Aim: 
  • Providing 100 percent access to free and safe sanitary pads to secondary and senior secondary Government school going girls.
  • To curb dropout of girls from schools.
  • To raise awareness about menstrual hygiene.
• Targeting bigger audience:
  • Training programmes will be held for teachers and counsellors who will then disseminate the information to the students. 
  • The vision is that the students will take this information back to their communities and will be able to target the women of these communities through the students.
• Installation: 
  • Incinerators will also be installed at these schools for proper disposal of pads.
• Experiment based collaboration: 
  • The scheme is based on an experiment the state government initiated in 2018, in collaboration with Sulabh International, where vending machines were installed in some schools.
• Budgetary support: 
  • The scheme being a part of the Budget, will receive proper funding.
• Coverage: 
  • All Government schools will be covered and tenders will be issued for the dispensing machines. 
  • There are about 18,665 adolescent girls studying in government schools in Sikkim. 
• Need of the scheme:
  • Access: 
    • Access to sanitary napkins, especially in rural Sikkim, much of which is remote and difficult terrain, is difficult. 
    • Often, even shops don’t keep napkins in these areas.
  • Dropout: 
    • The dropout rate of students in Sikkim, for both boys and girls, is similar to the national average, which is approximately 20% for both genders.
    • While girls in Sikkim may not drop out of schools due to menstruation, it is definitely a contributing factor.
  • Quality of sanitary napkins:
    • Accessibility of sanitary pads depends on affordability. 
    • There are many companies that produce pads locally now, but the fear is that these pads are not of good quality.
• Water aid India Finding:
  • It is an Non Profit Organisation which highlighted that:
    • During menstruation, adolescent girls skip school for five to six days every month.
    • 23 percent opt to drop out completely due to lack of proper toilet facilities and inadequate provisions.

Image Courtesy: Guidelines 

Significance

• Easy accessibility and availability of sanitary napkins will be provided.
• Involvement of Anganwadi Centres will help reach a bigger audience of women.
• More awareness will come to people and less stigmatisation of menstrual hygiene.
• Budgetary allocation will help in providing continuous and qualitative availability of pads.
• Dropout rate  might decrease with availability at school level.
• Sensitization of teachers through training programmes will help adolescent girls to reach out to their teachers in case of problems.

National Education Policy

• According to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, anganwadi centres are to be set up inside school campuses. 
• Generally, women don’t always turn up at anganwadi centres. 
• But if centres are in schools, access becomes more natural as students come everyday in any case. 
• So anganwadi and ASHA workers will also be roped in for a menstrual hygiene programme under Bahini Scheme.

Image Courtesy: Guidelines 

National Guidelines on Menstrual Hygiene Management

• Menstrual hygiene management is an integral part of the Swachh Bharat Mission Guidelines (SBM-G).
• The Guideline is issued by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
• Its objective is to support all adolescent girls and women. 
• It outlines what needs to be done by state governments, district administrations, engineers and technical experts in line departments; and school head teachers and teachers.

Way Ahead

• Most women in rural areas resort to homemade sanitary pads so a Government Initiative for creating more awareness about Menstrual Hygiene is bound to go a long way.
• Introducing it at school level while taking help from Anganwadi Centres located within schools will take the Government’s agenda on a bigger scale covering all women eventually.

Source: IE