In a higher secondary school in Kotranka, Rajouri, 80 girls were surveyed about menstrual health and hygiene. The findings are shocking. 67.5% said their school toilets were not clean or functional. Only 18.75% received sanitary pads from their school. More than half did not attend school on every day of their period.
A local doctor at the Community Health Centre confirmed what the numbers showed. Girls in the area face persistent challenges around menstrual hygiene, with limited facilities, irregular access to products, and social constraints that prevent open discussion.
Constitutional Violations
These are not just local failures. They are constitutional violations. In January 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in Dr Jaya Thakur v. Union of India that menstrual hygiene is a Fundamental Right under Articles 21 and 21A of the Constitution.
The Court linked menstrual health directly to dignity, equality, and the right to education. It mandated that all government and private schools must provide free sanitary products, functional and separate toilets, and safe disposal systems. It also issued a continuing mandamus, placing a legal obligation on authorities to ensure compliance within a fixed time frame.
The Rajouri study, conducted by fifth-semester Political Science students from GDC Kotranka, during their internship, shows how far ground reality is from that mandate.
About 66.3% of girls reported having no access to soap and clean water in the school. As noted above, 67.5% said toilets were not clean or functional. These are not minor deficiencies. Functional sanitation is a constitutional requirement. Its absence is a failure of implementation, not a lack of policy direction.
General hygiene data reflects the same pattern. While 96.3% of girls wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet, showing that awareness messaging has worked, only 40% bathe daily and 27.5% brush their teeth twice a day. These gaps are not about ignorance. They reflect limited access to water and household facilities.
Awareness alone cannot ensure practice when the enabling conditions are missing.
58.75% of girls use sanitary pads; 41.25% still use cloth — not by preference, but because 75% of respondents reported difficulty obtaining pads. The Court explicitly mandated free sanitary products in schools. Yet 81.25% of girls said their schools provide none.
When compliance with a legal mandate is this low, the problem lies in procurement and distribution systems, not in the law itself.
Only 48.8% of girls said they always attend school during menstruation. 45% attend only sometimes, and 6.3% do not attend at all.
The Supreme Court identified menstrual-related absences as a key factor in dropout rates among girls. This data confirms that concern is real, not theoretical. Irregular attendance, even if temporary, affects academic continuity and long-term educational outcomes.
The gaps in awareness are also telling. 68.8% of girls were informed about menstruation before its onset; 31.3% were not. Of those who were informed, 88.8% learned from their mothers and 11.3% from friends. Teachers and health workers played almost no role.
The absence of formal awareness programs reinforces this observation. Nearly 88.8% of girls reported that their schools do not conduct separate hygiene awareness programs. Only 41.3% of respondents said menstruation was ever discussed by a teacher or health professional.
This is a significant institutional failure. Schools are expected to provide structured, scientifically accurate information. Nearly 88.8% of girls reported that their schools do not run hygiene awareness programmes.
While 63.8% said they had participated in some awareness activity, the absence of formal programmes means these efforts are irregular and inconsistent.
61.3% of girls reported feeling shy discussing menstruation. Fear of teasing was also cited as a significant concern. However, social stigma is harder to address when institutional support is absent. Private spaces, functional toilets, and access to products reduce exposure and build confidence. Stigma does not exist in isolation from infrastructure.
Girls ranked pain as their primary challenge, followed by lack of sanitary pads and fear of teasing. Poor toilet facilities were ranked lower, despite data showing their poor condition. This suggests normalisation of an institutional failure.
When deficiencies persist long enough, they stop being perceived as problems and become routine. This normalisation is itself a concern, as it reduces demand for change and allows systemic failures to continue unchallenged.
When asked what would most improve hygiene at school, 67.5% of girls said clean toilets. Awareness classes and availability of sanitary pads were also mentioned, but less frequently. Infrastructure is the primary requirement. Without functional toilets and water, other interventions have limited impact.
The legal framework is in place. The Supreme Court’s continuing mandamus means authorities cannot cite policy gaps as an excuse. The problem is execution. Several specific failures stand out.
Monitoring is weak. There is no clear system for tracking whether schools are actually complying with directives. Without accountability, legal mandates remain on paper.
Another issue is fragmented implementation. Different aspects of menstrual hygiene, such as infrastructure, product distribution, and awareness, are often handled by separate departments. Lack of coordination leads to gaps in service delivery. A school may have toilets but no water, or awareness sessions without access to products.
Remote areas face specific barriers. In geographically constrained areas like Rajouri, standard interventions are not always sufficient. Supply chains, transportation, and maintenance of facilities require targeted attention.
Teachers and health workers are underutilised. Their current involvement is limited. Training programmes are needed so they can address menstrual health clearly and sensitively. Menstrual education must be integrated into the curriculum, not treated as an optional topic.
Attendance data must be tracked. Schools should identify students who regularly miss classes during menstruation and provide targeted support including access to products like soaps and sanitary pads, better facilities, and counselling where needed.
The argument that change takes time is not sufficient here. The Court has already set a timeline. The legal framework is already in place. The issue is not what needs to be done, but how effectively it is being implemented. Delays have direct consequences for health and education. The Rajouri data is a snapshot of a broader pattern seen across rural and remote areas of the country.
Menstrual hygiene is now a matter of rights, not policy preference. Until schools provide functional facilities, regular access to sanitary products, and structured education, the constitutional promise will remain incomplete. At present, that responsibility is not being met.
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