A girls' toilet complex with nine toilets and with an inbuilt sanitary napkin disposal unit was inaugurated in the Government Higher Primary School in Kasaba Bengre here on Monday.
K.N. Vijay Prakash, Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, inaugurated the complex.
He told The Hindu that the disposal unit had been set up in the school on a pilot basis and that it would be installed in eight more schools in Dakshina Kannada. It was built out of funds sourced from Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. He was trying to get a similar facility in at least 100 schools and hostels (together) of girls during the year 2012-13, he said.
The school is the first in Mangalore city to get a toilet for girls with a sanitary napkin disposal unit, said Moses Jayashekhar, Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI).
Of the nine toilets in the new complex, one is equipped with the disposal system. It is equipped with a window with a sliding shutter that can be used to dispose of used napkins. The napkins go down a chute, which has a grill at the bottom. There is space below the grill so that the collected napkins can be burnt. The chute has a chimney at the top.
The toilet complex has a toilet for children with disabilities. It is more spacious than the other toilets and has a wide entrance with a sliding door through which a wheelchair can be brought in.
There are three bars to clutch on to, near the European white commode in the toilet meant for these children. Both the toilets are built along a ramp and have tiles on the floor.
The DDPI said it had been decided that every girls' toilet to be built in the coming year would have at least one napkin-disposal unit.
He said that napkins were being provided free to girls out of funds in the Sahrva Shiksha Abhiyan. Attempts were being made to see if napkins could be procured from a separate fund.
The school (at Bengre) has 500 students out of which 262 are girls.
Juliet B Pinto, Head Mistress, Government Higher Primary School, Kasaba Bengre, expressed her happiness about the new facility.
