Period poverty lowering school attendance in Boni
What you need to know:
- The forest has five primary schools: Milimani, Mangai, Mararani, Basuba and Kiangwe. Nation.Africa has established that boys’ attendance is higher than girls’, thanks to period poverty.
- Schoolgirls on the Kenya-Somalia border, particularly at Kiunga and Ishakani, have also been experiencing a similar situation and have to miss classes during menstruation.
Poverty and lack of infrastructure in most schools in terror-prone Boni Forest lock most girls on their menses out of class.
The forest has five primary schools: Milimani, Mangai, Mararani, Basuba and Kiangwe. Nation.Africa has established that boys’ attendance is higher than girls’, thanks to period poverty.
Schoolgirls on the Kenya-Somalia border, particularly at Kiunga and Ishakani, have also been experiencing a similar situation and have to miss classes during menstruation.
According to data from the Lamu Women Alliance (Lawa), almost 60 per cent of schoolgirls in Boni Forest and Kenya-Somalia border villages stay at home during their menstrual periods.
Also read: Menstrual health is a human rights issue
Marking International Menstrual Hygiene Day on Sunday, Lawa executive officer Raya Famau said despite the organisation having initiated programmes to distribute sanitary towels to Lamu students in both public and private schools, their efforts are not enough.
Ms Famau appealed to the government and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to come forth and assist, especially those from Boni and pastoralist communities, to enable them to stay in class and learn.
“Lack of pads among girls in Boni Forest, the border villages of Kiunga and Ishakani, as well as those from the pastoralist communities still pose a great challenge to the girls’ education. As Lawa, we’ve initiated a programme to distribute free sanitary towels to secondary schoolgirls. We were told the government was doing the same for primary schoolgirls, but, unfortunately, the programme hasn’t been going on since last year. Something needs to be done,” said Ms Famau.
Indoors
Fatma Shizo from Boni's Kiangwe village expressed disappointment that their girls have continued to stay indoors every time they experience monthlies as their schools lack changing rooms.
“Most of our families here are poor and can’t afford sanitary pads. Our girls here opt to miss classes for all the three to four days of menstruation; the schools here have no toilets or decent changing washrooms. The girls’ class attendance here is generally poor,” said Ms Shizo.
In Boni's Bar’goni village, the situation is similar, as girls miss lessons because they cannot afford sanitary pads. Doza Diza, an elder, appealed to the county and national governments to come up with an effective plan to distribute sanitary towels to boost school attendance.
“As you’re aware, Boni is a forest community. We depend on hunting, gathering of wild fruits and honey harvesting. This cannot happen anymore because the operation to flush Al-Shabaab militants out of Boni Forest was launched in 2015. We’ve no money to cater for sanitary pads, making life harder for our girls during menstruation. They opt to stay at home instead of attending classes,” he said.
Efforts to reach County Education Director Joshua Kaaga for comment on the same were unsuccessful as his phone went unanswered.
International Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated on May 28 every year to create a world where every woman and girl can manage her menstruation in a hygienic, safe and dignified way. On this day, the government, NGOs, and other stakeholders work together to advocate menstrual hygiene and break taboos.
The 2023 theme was making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030. The overarching goal is to build a world where no one is held back because of menstruation.
