Bhojpur. Ram Prasad Rai Rural Municipality of Bhojpur district has started installing automatic sanitary pad distribution machine in schools targeting the health and convenience of girl students. The machine has been installed with the objective of encouraging the girl students to come to school with ease and confidence during menstruation.

Tham Bahadur Rai, chairperson of the rural municipality, said that the machine has been installed in 9 out of 12 community schools and the remaining schools will be installed soon.

“In the previous years, we used to send sanitary pads to schools,” Rai said, adding, “But many girl students were reluctant to use them due to shame.” Now with this machine, they will be able to take it easily and secretly. ’

The rural municipality has planned to install such machines in seven secondary schools and five basic schools in the first phase. The girl students can collect the required sanitary pads at the school itself using the card system through the machine.

According to the education department, this scheme will be effective in solving the problem of low attendance rate of girl students in school due to menstruation. The installation of the machine will help the girl students to come to school with self-respect.

The department believes that the attendance rate of girl students will increase with the distribution of pads in the school. The rural municipality has planned to install such machines in other schools in the next phase and also to conduct awareness programs for students.