PANAJI
Educating the girl child about the monthly menstruation cycle including the physical, cultural and psychological aspects related to it, an innovative project ‘Bhumi’ was initiated in five schools of Bicholim by Sai Nursing and Paramedical Institute recently. “Under this project, our team delivered workshops, demonstrations and presentations to the students of class V to class X along with their parents and teachers,” informed Sulakshana Sawant, chairperson of the institute in a press briefing.
“There is lack of awareness and education in this sensitive subject related so closely to the health and hygiene of every woman and hence we decided to begin educating school children with the help of nursing tutors,” stated Sulakshana, who is assisted in the mission by Reshmi Gaonkar, Sayali Naik, Kalpana Sawant, Bharati Fulari, Shweta Patil and Belmira Rebello.
The team ‘Bhumi’ held workshops in five local schools and eight more schools in Bicholim will be offered these workshops wherein not only girls but boys and parents too will be educated on menstruation.
“We are focussing on making them aware about the physical changes that occur at puberty as well as their psychological and emotional effects, the hygiene and health related issues, use of sanitary napkins and their disposal. Educating the boys will help them to understand the biological aspects of menstruation, its importance in reproduction as well as realising the mental and physical state of girls and women during this cycle and make them more considerate instead of teasing them,” shared Sulakshana.
She also pointed out that the sex education starts from class VIII and continues to class IX and X, but as the age of menstruation has come down alarmingly.
Highlighting the importance of proper disposal of sanitary napkins, Sulakshana pointed out the difficulty of disposing of polymer based sanitary napkins that absorb and swell in the process of use. “It becomes difficult to dispose them and if flushed in the toilets, they get choked. It is not possible to install incinerators in homes or public places as they are not affordable for all, and hence it is safer to go back to traditional method of using cloth which can be easily discarded or even reused after washing,” she said, adding, “Cloth is cheaper, hygienic and easily disposable. The dioxine used in the sanitary napkins is harmful for health and hence we must adopt the old methods of using cloth.”
