Statistical Chronology

In 2019, a study on the status of menstrual health management by the Ministry of Education unveiled dreadful statistics showing about 23% of Ugandan girls in between 12-18 drop-out of school when they begin menstruation.

Tuezuule initiative’s major goal upon its involvement was to help to keep young girls at schools during their cycles/ bring an end to dropping out of schools due to absence of menstrual basic menstrual necessities for young girls, help the already out of school girls with survival skills that will economically empower them and bring and end to their sexual exploitation in exchange for economic gains .

In Jandira Village, Sokolo Parish(where the headquarters of Tuezuule initiative are situate), a high percentage of girls tend to indulge into unhealthy sexual relations that at times may cause sexual related complications including but not limited to STI’s and early unwanted pregnancies hence these young girls turn into mothers at a tender age

Another set of statistical figure reported in the New Vision, indicates that when girls are in their periods, their absenteeism rate shoots to whopping 28% compared to 7% periods when girls are not menstruating. The most affected girls are those hailing from poor families whose parents can hardly afford basic requirements to retain their girls in school without any interruptions.

To implement the commitments of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Uganda Government introduced Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) which enhanced the enrollments by far but leaving many questions on both quality and retention of learners in the education system to completion stages. By 2014, statistics obtained from the Ministry of Education and Sports indicated that enrollment levels had rose to 94% which means before the outbreak of the covid19 pandemic(which led to the closure of education institutions the number had gone higher)

However, to establish the retention levels, assessment body, National Examinations Board (UNEB) and Education and Sports sector annual performance (ESSAPRs) undertook a study in 2017 which revealed that over 5 million pupils had dropped out of school before completing P.7 at the time(this is done every academic year upon the release of the final examinations results at primary and secondary levels).

In this analysis, it was shown that over 12.2 million pupils started P.1 but only 6.95 million (57.2%) completed P.7 whereas 5.2 million (42.8%) dropped out of schools. This means that at least 43 of every 100 (or 4 out of every 10) pupils who enrolled for school dropped out of school hastily.

On average, between 1995 and 2009, of the over 810,000 pupils who started school each year, almost 350,000 did not complete P.7. During the period under review, it was established that the percentage of girls who dropped out of school before completion was higher compared to their male counterparts.

Of the 6,234,532 girls who went through the 15 primary school cycles, (P.1-P7), only 3,347, 348 (53.6%) completed P.7 while 2,896,184 (46%) dropped out. Going by the figures, it’s evident that a dropout rate for girls was over and above the general dropout rate which stood at (42.8%). For seven school cycles, over a half of the number of girls who started primary school did not complete.

Girls-especially those in the rural areas like Jandira Village miss out on the internationally recognized right to education without discrimination. There are myriad causes to this including lack of basic scholastic materials, school requirements, trekking longer distances to and from schools, but period poverty stands to be the bigger impediment to girls’ quest to attain education to unlock their full potentials.

Despite their role in facilitating girls’ stay in schools, sanitary pads in Uganda are still expensive to be afforded by every menstruating girl. A packet of sanitary pads goes for between Shs3, 000-3500(approximately $1) on the market in rural areas where price discrimination occurs leading to high prices charged for goods in village areas.

As a result, various poor girls resort to using unhygienic methods to handle monthly menstruation periods through use of tree leaves, old clothes, toilet paper, newspapers, cotton wool and rags to protect themselves from leaks while others are isolated and advised to sit in the sand for days until their menstrual flow stops. Under such circumstances, girls have been forced to drop out of school to avoid embarrassment and or associated stereotypes.

When girls miss out on education, it certainly, contravenes Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially Goal 4 whose overarching objective is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Specifically, SDG4’s target 1 prescribes, “by 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes,” while target 4.1 thus, aims to “promote children and young people (a) in grades 2/3, (b) at the end of primary, and (c) at the end of secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics by sex.”

Failure to attain education by all per SDG4’s aim, has got a direct effect on the achievement of other associated SDGs namely; SDG5 which aims to achieve gender equality and empowering all women and girls. In fact, SDG5’s target 1 aspires to “end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.”

So, if some girls are forced to drop out of school prematurely due to otherwise avoidable factors such as lack of sanitary pads, women whom they become as adults get discriminated from get formal, decent employment placements for lack of requisite academic qualifications which were made prerequisites for people to get employed.

SDG10 which strives to reduce inequalities is another fundamental SDG that cannot be attained with the denial of adequate education opportunities to girl-child.

INTERVENTION

Tuezuule initiative, was forced to encounter the growing vices against women arising from menstruation complications. By September 2021, it had started up with its project aimed at promoting good menstrual health management and entrepreneurship development within the surroundings of it’s headquarters in kasanje town council through training how to make re-usable sanitary pads initially for subsistence/personal use and later on organize the beneficiaries into School Community enterprises so as to start commercial production.

The first group of the trainees are going to graduate on 15th December and they will be awarded with certificates of completion by our guest of honour at that event to come.

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