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Help Girls Stay in School Bangladesh | UNICEF – Transcript
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- At Shaiid Shaddorshan High School in northern Bangladesh, officials observed an alarming decline in female attendance and dropouts due to a lack of proper facilities and hygienic guidance during menstruation.
- Local government officials and UNICEF partnered to build 18 brand new toilets and brought in key volunteers to discuss sanitation and hygiene practices with the students.
- Following the establishment of these new facilities, female students attend school regularly, drop-out rates have decreased, and two-thirds of the school population are now female.
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The onset of puberty can be a physical and emotional minefield for adolescent girls. In Tangri, Basar, a rural village in northern Bangladesh, dealing with one's menstruation and attending school proved too difficult for female students.
At Shaiid Shaddorshan High School, officials saw an alarming decline in female attendance and over a seven-year period, almost half the school's girls had dropped out. They explained the drop in attendance on the lack of proper facilities and hygienic and sanitary guidance for girls' students, going through their menstrual cycle.
But a few years ago, the school began to embrace a few simple but innovative ways to bring the female school attendance back up. Local government officials, partnered with UNICEF, helped school authorities build 18 brand new toilets. Earlier, girls were afraid of the menstruation period.
They were really afraid of that particular time. Now, through our intervention, they're very much relaxed. They don't skip school for three to four days in a row anymore, unless they're sick for other illnesses. The attendance and presence of girls in my school is really satisfactory.
The school's drop-out rate has decreased and two-thirds of the school population are now female. I am talking from my personal experience. I have been to school many times and found out from many people that girls used to skip school during their menstruation because there were hardly any facilities.
After we established those facilities in the school, they are attending school regularly. The program also brings key volunteers to discuss sanitation and hygiene practices and talk with girls who may find it difficult to discuss their physical changes.
Sabina Yasmin confesses that she had planned to stop attending school. When I started attending school here in the sixth grade, there were no sanitary facilities. At the time, there were only two toilets for girls. We used to face a lot of difficulties.
A lot of girls missed school. Families used to stop girls from attending school. Some girls were even forced to get married because of this problem. But now, because of these new toilets, we're more interested in attending school again.
Learning an achievement can be a reality for all girls when communities and governments approach a problem with a fresh perspective. Shahid Shureshan High School came up with an innovative yet simple solution by seeing the issue from the girl's point of view. This is Marisa Arroy reporting for UNICEF. For more information, visit unicef.org.