Dhangadi, January 23

Girl students at Dhangadi Namuna Secondary School have been organising public awareness campaign on menstruation in Dhangadi sub-metropolis, Kailali for the past two weeks.

The girls have been visiting local households and spreading knowledge about death of many women in Chhau sheds during menstruation. As per the campaign, the girls have visited over 50 houses and run awareness programme on sexual and reproductive health in the locality.

“Women are compelled to stay in Chhau huts due to family pressure though they are informed about the superstitious belief associated with menstruation,” said Rejina Bam, a student. Some of the villagers were against the superstitious belief associated with menstruation, according to Bam.

Earlier, girl students did not feel comfortable in classrooms when teachers taught about sexual and reproductive health. But these days they have been spreading knowledge in society about sexual and reproductive health, safe motherhood, use of contraceptives and safe abortion, among others.

The girl students said they were trying to translate the knowledge they got from text books into practice.

“We have been visiting the door steps of the community people to impart knowledge about what we have learnt at school,” said another girl student Raojina Chaudhary, adding that they were trying to actualise theory into practice.

Knowledge of sexual and reproductive health was provided to around 4,768 students of 30 community schools of Kailali through Marginalised Children Education Project.

Programme Coordinator Laxman Chaudhary of Backward Society, Kailali, said that the girls were sent to the community as change makers. He said the girls had spread knowledge among 200 households on sexual and reproductive health within a period of just two weeks.