AHMEDABAD: More than a year after some girls in a Bhuj educational institute were forced to undergo a ‘menstruation check’, the state education department has recently issued a directive to ensure that girls are not subjected to such outrageous discrimination again.
A list of dos and don’ts for all schools also urges to propagate science behind periods.
In February last year, 68 girls of Shree Sahajanand Girls Institute (SSGI) in Bhuj were summoned from class and made to take off their undergarments for the authorities to check if they were menstruating.
The incident had shocked the nation and invited action by the state and national commission for women against the blatant expression of ‘period-phobia’.
Ironically, it took a national uproar over the incident to prompt the state into action and release a list of dos and don’ts to protect schoolgirls from such intrusive humiliation.
In a letter dated June 4, Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), citing recommendation by the Gujarat State Commission for Women, has attempted to address the problem.
The letter states that schools, religious organizations, or any other body that gives accommodation to girls and women should not look at menstruation from outdated perspectives.
Instead, the letter says, menstruation must be considered from the scientific standpoint.
Schools should, as part of education, teach that menstruation is a natural and biological process, the letter says.
“While schools should make students aware about menstruation from the primary level itself, schools and colleges should have machines for the disposal of sanitary napkins,” the letter adds.
The government’s recent move is aimed to prevent the recurrence of the disgrace perpetrated by the Bhuj based Shree Sahajanand Girls Institute (SSGI), a self-financed college, with its own girls’ hostel and is run by a trust of the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj.
The college is affiliated to the Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University.
The school had suspended its principal, hostel rector, and peon after police registered an FIR against them.
The National Commission for Women had formed a team to investigate the matter.
The team visited the school on February 15, 2020, and shared its findings with police and the university.
“On January 20, 2021, the Gujarat State Commission for Women sent its recommendations to the state education department based on which Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has asked the district education officers to follow these directives,” said sources in the education department.