Imagine your younger self, when you are still a 13 years old child, living with your parents, having all kinds of aspirations about your bright future and not having a worry about the day. Now imagine a child who lives just 30 kms away from Line of Control at Jaisalmer, and walks 6 kilometers to her schools in the scorching heart of Thar Desert and still manages to get good grades.
Meet Rinki (name changed), a 13 years old adolescent who lives in the desert district of Rajasthan and aspires to be an IPS one day. She is a scholar in her school and loves debating and singing Patriotic Songs on important days. Currently, she is in VII standard and is in the process of transitioning into the final chapter of her Elementary Education.
Rinki is the eldest among 5 siblings, who wakes up before 4 am helps her mother cook food on an hearth, washes the cattles and milks the cows and then walks more than 6 kms by foot in the scorching heat of Thar, and still manages to score the highest among her classmates. She is currently aiming for 'Gargi Puruskar' that is awarded to the meritorious female students of class X & XII.
Her parents told me that they have finalized her matrimony with an elder man of 35 years who can easily take care of her and of her future children. Like her there are many other girls who have to go through similar situations, due to the unavailability of close by schools and lack of proper amenities like Sanitation and Water Facilities for growing girls, who then have to drop-out of their schools.
According to the 2011 census, the School Dropout Rate of girls in the age of 6-16 was found to be 69.390 %, which saw an increase from 69.050% in 2010. Moreover, the Pandemic has aggravated the dropout rate in the State and according to data observed by UDISE+ 2020-21 and 2021-22, around 481272 children dropped out of Schools in Rajasthan.
One out of five girls in the crucial age of 15-16 years of age dropped out of school in Rajasthan, yet alone in the Aspirational District of Jaisalmer. According to the ASER report, 20.1% of girls dropped out of schools leading to sharp decline in girl’s enrollment in higher educational institutes. Most of the girls in the age group of 13-16 are either enrolled in Elementary or Secondary Classes, who once hitting their Puberty, due to lack of proper awareness, facilities at schools and unavailability of Hygienic Products at community level find it difficult to access basic education in such districts.
During my stay in the district Jaisalmer, July 2019-May 2021, the ratio of girls to that of boys was alarming. No matter the enrollment, the attendance of girls was as low as 0 - 2 in classes V and above in the schools that were really remote. According to the community, the distance between an Elementary School and that of a Secondary/ Secondary School is quite large and that becomes one of the reasons for School Dropout after Class VIII in the desert district.
After observing some schools as my primary research, I observed that the decline among school engagements was typically with the children among the age groups of 13 - 16 years, especially with adolescent girls, that lead to decrease in attendance and with time dropout. Traditionally, many communities in Jaisalmer are still practicing child/ early marriages that too happen after the onset of puberty for such children. But after observing more than 33 households at Pokaran, I could understand these implications to these intertwined practices:
Due to less to no knowledge about Puberty and Periods, there is this underlying fear of bodily changes that lead to hesitation among girls to walk freely after hitting Puberty.
Culturally and due to less coping mechanisms of periods girls are still married off to lessen the burden of families.
Lesser amenities at community level, like washrooms, water facilities and sanitary napkins, lead communities to take drastic decisions for their children so that girls can lead fulfilling lives with their in-laws and not worry about period related accidents at schools.
Observing each one very closely, it was clear that awareness around Menstruation, Sanitary Practices and Gender Sensitization was the need of the hour for the district. This gave birth to my campaign, 'आओ बोलें PERIOD.' and soon after reaching 15+ panchayats, and more than 30+ schools Pandemic happened and we were stuck.
Although, Rajasthan government is already doing fabulous work under their ‘Chuppi Todo, Khulkar Bolo’ Abhiyan where Hygienic Sanitary Napkins and Folic Acid is distributed in each school, by an appointed Teacher. But still there are some communities who are less likely to use under garments yet alone hygenic sanitary products for periods.
But being one of the most challenging districts of India, being the border, aspirational and desert district, it was observed that the Teacher Student ratio too is on a down low. In October 2022 Times of India posted that students of High Secondary School in Pochina Village and Bhaniyana Subdivision sat on a protest stating the availability of only 3 primary grade teachers and a vacancy of 17 teachers in schools. Keeping this in mind, one can imagine the availability of female teachers for providing the already available Sanitary Napkins to Menstruating School Students.
To curb this, I want you to sign my petition to appeal DC -Jaisalmer Tina Dabi to kindly install Vending Machines and Incinerators at all Panchayat Level Government Schools to make them amenity rich Community Centres and a Period Positive Safe Space for our Communities to break the Generational Taboos about periods by saying out loud:
'आओ बोलें PERIOD.'
Picture: 'आओ बोलें PERIOD.' Campaign logo
