When Menstrual Confidence Stops at the School Gate

Creating a safe space in a classroom takes patience, trust, and understanding

Nothing about sanitary napkins or menstruation was new to the girls. They spoke openly about periods, hygiene, pain, and doubts. Some even asked questions in front of their teachers, which would have felt impossible just a year ago.

But one question was new: “How do we carry sanitary napkins home?”

During one of my school visits as an intern with the ZealGrit Foundation, this change became very clear. As soon as sanitary packets were distributed, many girls looked concerned. Their questions were not about how to use the pads. Instead, they asked where to keep them and how to take them home.

Some girls asked for extra covers, while others quietly hid the packets inside their jackets. In another school, when students were told to keep the packets in their school bags, a few girls quickly said they had not brought their bags that day. They began asking friends to hold the packets for them.

This moment was telling because it happened after regular menstrual health education, not before.

Inside the classroom, I had consistently observed a different reality. Girls spoke freely about menstruation. They discussed menstruation without whispering, challenged certain myths, shared personal experiences, and supported each other. Over time, the classroom had become a safe space. But the idea of carrying a sanitary napkin out of that space exposed a boundary between safety and judgement.

Games and conversations make learning engaging and meaningful

At first, this may seem like a practical issue. Some girls may not have had bags or a safe way to carry the packet. But the speed with which many tried to hide the napkins suggests something deeper.

Even when girls may have knowledge and confidence, their actions are shaped by family norms, community scrutiny, and fear of being judged. The safe space we created together at school gave them permission to speak openly but the society often does not.

These observations do not mean that menstrual health education has failed. In fact, they show how much progress has been made. Girls are learning. They are confident inside safe spaces. But they also show where the limits still exist.

For ZealGrit, this understand is important. The challenge is no longer only about teaching

girls inside classrooms. It is about supporting them when they move through public spaces where that confidence is tested.

As our work with young people and girls’ health grows, we are reminded that menstruation does not stop at the classroom door. It continues on the way home, in families, communities, public life.

This also means slowly menstrual conversations need to move beyond girls’ issues. As long as periods are seen as “girls’ issue” by communities and families, the burden of hiding and managing stigma will continue to fall on those who menstruate.

The real question is no longer just, “Are girls learning about menstruation?”It is, “Are we changing the world they step into after learning?”

Until those conditions change, menstrual confidence will continue to stop at the school gate.