Kampala — More than a half of the school girls who drop out of school in upper primary classes do so because they lack sanitary facilities including pads, according to the Forum for Africa Women Educationalist, Uganda's coordinator, Ms Florence Kanyike.

"When we analyse what is contained in the lack of interest in education among school girls, we found out that such girls had either had their school uniforms soiled with blood while in school or just before they left their homes for school," she reveals.

"While some schoolgirls miss school whenever they menstruate, others, though may report for school, fail to concentrate."

Kanyike asserts that because of lack of sanitary pads coupled with lack of separate toilet facilities and easy access to water sources within the schools, some girls have had to abandon education.

She argues that menstruation is the most contributing factor to school absenteeism and poor academic performance among schoolgirls. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of silence surrounding it," observes Kanyike adding that many girls fear to ask their parents for sanitary pads.

Currently, some of the comfortable pads in Kampala cost between sh1,900 and sh2,500 for a pack of eight to ten pieces. They include among others, Always, Silk pads and processed cotton wool.

Sanitary pads are manufactured in different shapes and sizes to cater for light to heavy flow.

Most sanitary towels are soft and have a cotton-like cover sheet, a discrete supper absorbent core and a waterproof plastic backing, which offer maximum protection and comfort.

Others are improvised by using pieces of cloth and unprocessed cotton wool.

Some girls, especially in the rural schools either wear more knickers or fold them and use them as pads during menstruation.

The danger with the improvised pads is that they often feel uncomfortable and in most cases they are not very absorbent especially during heavy flows.

Improvised pads especially from pieces of cotton cloth usually require regular washing and drying since they are sometimes hard to come by.

In order for girls using improvised pads to feel fresh, they need to change them regularly. This means that they require easy access to old pieces of cotton cloths and to a clean water source and separate toilet facilities where they can change their pads in private without the fear of being seen by other pupils in school.

The worst type of improvised pads are knickers and unproces- sed cotton wool, commonly used in rural schools.

This is because it is easier for the girls who use knickers to have their school uniforms soiled because most knickers are today made of synthetic material which has low absorbency.

Knickers and unprocessed cotton wool often irritate the private parts of the menstruating girls once they are soaked in blood.

This limits their participation in the school activities like games and sport.

Unfortunately, in whatever, shape, size they are, manufactured pads are generally too expensive for the ordinary Ugandan parent. Besides, many parents are ignorant about their added value to the education of girls.

On average, a girl will have 13 menstruation circles a year. This means that they need sh26,000, yearly to buy pads. For a parent with more than two adolescence girls in school, this is too expensive, especially when one takes into account that the average Ugandan lives on less than sh1,000 a day, according to the results of the Uganda National Household survey, for the years 2002/3.