Menstruation Leave for Girl Students in Indian schools and the Role of School Psychology – A Critical Study

Menstruation among schoolgirls is still a socially taboo topic with many strings attached. Mental health issues and associated lack of hygiene and toilet facilities are moot school-level problems to be handled by school counsellors in order to devise a good and viable strategy. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 partially deals with this topic. Stigma associated with menstruation often leads to truancy among female schoolchildren. The onus is on school psychologists to create a healthy and balanced environment. “Sakhivaad” or the encouragement to schoolgirls about problems faced during menstruation can also be brought about by school psychologists and school counsellors.This research article also explores whether advocacy and a civil rights movement in favour of schoolchildren may be built up or not by the school counsellors in tune with similar strategies adopted by the HR Departments of various corporate organisations. The idea is to speak up and find solutions from the genre of school psychology and no more brush it under a dusty carpet of social shame on attaining girlhood that has been seen in India in the past (Herrmann & Rockoff, 2012).