Menstrual Hygiene Day Today: Sanitary Pad Vending Machines Or Showpieces?

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Sanitary pad vending machines and incinerators in the four leading government girls’ colleges and schools in the state capital are lying defunct. This was revealed when this Free Press reporter visited Maharani Laxmi Bai (MLB) College, Nutan College, Kamla Nehru School and Sarojini Naidu School on Tuesday, the eve of Menstrual Hygiene Day.

At MLB College, two sanitary pad vending machines and one incinerator were not working. There were no vending machines or incinerators in home science department.

There is one vending machine and incinerator in science department (Vigyan Bhawan) but is out of order. The vending machines in the commerce and science departments were non-functional.

“Machine khali rahegi to usmein se kya niklega,” said a woman sanitary worker, who has been working at the college for six years. A student pursuing post graduation in geography said she never saw vending machine working in last four years. She said students raised numerous complaints but nothing changed.

MLB College

The situation is same at Kamla Nehru Girls School in New Market. The sole vending machine installed in one of the two toilets doesn’t work. A teacher said that it has been non-functional for many years. A sanitary worker said that the machine only accepted old Re 1 coins and not the new ones.

Nutan College has 12 toilets in which two vending machines and incinerators were installed. However, all remain showpieces. One of the vending machines was not even plugged into power supply socket. “It is not working for past six months,” a sanitary worker said. A BCA third year student gave similar statement.

At Sarojini Naidu School, the only vending machine in the toilet installed at teaching staff room was non-functional. “We keep pads and give them to girls when they need them,” an English department teacher said, adding, “Rs 300-Rs 400 are deposited in the accounts of all students for buying sanitary pads.”

MP second-worst

According to National Family Health Service-5 data, Bihar has the lowest percentage of girls using hygienic method of menstrual protection (59.7%), followed by Madhya Pradesh (61%) and Meghalaya (65.6%). The Supreme Court in 2023 directed all the state governments to make arrangements for supplying sanitary pads free of cost to all girl students from Class 6-12 in schools.