Every year 23 million girls drop out of school after reaching puberty, due to a lack of good sanitation units. The absence of toilets, lack of access to sanitary pads and knowledge of menstrual hygiene make them vulnerable to major infections, which left unaddressed, affects reproductive health and their overall health.

Habitat for Humanity India’s Stay At School campaign aims to combat the taboos surrounding menstruation for school-going girls through the gift of a hygiene kit, counselling sessions educating girls about menstrual health and hygiene, and better sanitation through new sanitation units in schools.

A Hygiene Kit will provide a girl with necessary hygiene and menstrual health support ensuring health, and helping her break free from shame and constraints.

Access to clean and well maintained toilets at school is critical to help a girl continue education uninterrupted. When you support the Stay At School campaign, you help girls break free.

How can you help a girl Stay At School?

Gift a Hygiene Kit, Counseling Session and contribution towards building a Sanitation Unit
Gift a Hygiene Kit and Counseling Session
Gift a Hygiene Kit

You can pledge your support by donating to support this cause. Come and help build a better India, one where everyone has good sanitation!

Stories:

Building Better Sanitation in Schools:

Sindushree, Divya and Meena all live in B. Narayanapura, Bengaluru and go to the nearby Government High School. While they try to attend school regularly and keep up with their academic studies, there is one major deterrent to their education – the school toilet.

“The leaves used to fall into the toilet through the holes in the roof,” says Sindushree. “It was so bad, we just could not use the toilets in our school and had to wait till we got home.”

Sindushree was not the only one to avoid the school toilet. Her friends Divya and Meena all belong to the 10th Standard and stayed away from the school toilet due to its unhygienic and broken-down state.

“We used to somehow make do with it on a daily basis if it was urgent,” said Divya. “But during our periods we didn’t go there at all. We would stay at home, rather than coming to school.”

Habitat for Humanity India works towards better menstrual hygiene management, through our Stay at School campaign. We built a school sanitation unit for Sindushree, Divya and Meena’s school with a sanitary napkin dispenser and incinerator. Along with this, the students were taught better sanitation and hygiene practices as part of our Behaviour Change Communication initiative.

Strawberry Fields High School is supporting Habitat India initiatives: Stay at School – building better sanitation and hygiene for girls in schools.

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