Menstrual Hygiene part of Right to life: Supreme Court

In an order that would go a long way to ensuring Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in schools, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that right to menstrual health is an integral part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan linked it to the right to live with dignity.

“We say so because dignity cannot be reduced to an abstract ideal, it must find expression in conditions that enable individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion, or avoidable suffering. For menstruating girl children, the inaccessibility of MHM measures subjects them to stigma, stereotyping, and humiliation,” the bench said.

The court said that “the right to education loses its spirit if such conditions exist that exclude menstruating girl children from the educational process” and “addressing the impediments through affirmative actions would be consistent with the substantive approach to equality embodied in Article 14 of the Constitution.”

The judgement pointed out that a 2024 research paper on “school absenteeism during menstruation amongst adolescent school girls in North India…found that nearly one-third of girls were absent from school due to issues related to menstrual health, restrictive societal norms, and inadequate menstrual hygiene management. Out of approximately 500 students, 29.2% of the participants were reported to be absent from school during menstruation…Notably, girls using hygienic methods reported lower absenteeism as compared to others.”

The court said that lack of MHM measures at school not just disrupts a girl child’s presence in school, but “impairs her access to opportunities both during schooling and later in life” and “lead to recurrent absenteeism which would result in gap in learning” which “over the period of time…would translate into lower academic performance, and reduced participation in classroom…” and ultimately, their “dropping out.”

The judgement noted that the consequences of not providing barrier free access which would include “absence of sanitary napkins and a hygienic mechanism to dispose” as prescribed by the Right to Education Act, would entail even de-recognition of schools.

The bench also issued a slew of directions to ensure that Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) HM measures are put in place.

1.     All States and Union Territories shall ensure that every school, whether Government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, is provided with the functional, gender-segregated toilets with usable water connectivity.
2.     All the existing and newly constructed toilets in schools ensure privacy and accessibility, including by catering to the needs of children with disabilities.
3.     All school toilets shall be equipped with functional hand-washing facilities, with soap and water available at all times.
4.     All States and Union Territories shall ensure that every school, whether Government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, provides oxo-biodegradable sanitary napkins manufactured in compliance with the ASTM D-6954 standards free of cost. Such sanitary napkins shall be made readily accessible to girl students, preferably within the toilet premises through sanitary napkin vending machines, or, where such installation is not immediately feasible, at a designated place or with a designated authority within the school.
5.     All States and Union Territories shall ensure that every school, whether Government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, establish Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) corners. Such MHM corners shall be equipped with, including but not limited to, spare innerwear, spare uniforms, disposable bags, and other necessary materials to address menstruation-related exigencies.
6.     All States and Union Territories shall ensure that every school, whether Government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, is equipped with a safe, hygienic, and environmentally compliant mechanism for the disposal of sanitary napkins, in accordance with the latest Solid Waste Management Rules.
7.     Each toilet unit shall be equipped with a covered waste bin for the collection of sanitary material, and cleanliness and regular maintenance of such bins shall be ensured at all times.
8.     The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) shall incorporate gender-responsive curricula, more particularly, on menstruation, puberty, and other related health concerns (PCOS, PCOD, etc.), with a view to break stigma and taboo associated with menstrual health and hygiene.
9.     All teachers, whether male or female, shall be adequately trained and sensitized on menstrual hygiene, including appropriate ways of supporting and assisting menstruating students.
10. Information regarding the availability of Jan Aushadhi Suvidha Oxo-Biodegradable Sanitary Napkin shall be widely disseminated through advertisement in social media, print media, radio advertisement, TV advertisement, cinema advertisement, and outdoor publicity like bus queue shelter branding, bus branding, auto wrapping, wall paintings.
11. The child helpline set up by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in furtherance of Rule 26 of the RTE Rules be disseminated forthwith through social media, print media, radio advertisement, TV advertisement, cinema advertisement, etc.

Other directions:

1.     District Education Officer (DEO) to conduct periodic inspections, preferably once in a year, of school infrastructure, particularly with regard to toilet and washing facilities, availability of menstrual absorbents, sanitary waste disposal mechanisms and training/awareness measures undertaken by the concerned school.
2.     National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), or, as the case may be, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), to oversee the implementation of the aforesaid directions.

3.     Union of India and all the States and Union Territories to ensure that the directions are strictly complied with within a period of three months from the date of the pronouncement of the judgment.