Sanitary facilities spark girls’ education turnaround

Zimbabwe News Update

🇿🇼 Published: 06 April 2026
📘 Source: MWNation

For years, female adolescence in Malawi has remained a serious concern not only among parents, but also education authorities. This is as a result of unavailability or inappropriate washroom facilities in schools to use during their menstrual cycles. Thus, instead of celebrating their puberty, these school girls have been filled with societal seclusion and pain as they endure taunts and stigma.

Consequently, many of them have been reluctant to attend classes resulting in poor academic performances. The development has also made a staggering number of girls completely abandoning their education due to lack of a conducive and healthy learning environment. This glaring issue has far-reaching consequences as it compromises the future of countless young girls while negatively impacting on government’s efforts to get and keep these girls in school.

Maria Goretti Girls Primary School in Blantyre is one education facility whose girls, for years, were forced to miss classes during menstruation due to lack of safe and private sanitation spaces. But the newly constructed sleek sanitation facilities at the school are now rewriting the script as they are turning the interrupted school days into confident and dignity-filled learning experiences. Standard Seven learner Alefa Kalumbi says the modern toilets and well-designed washrooms symbolise dignity for the girls as they now have a secure space to manage their hygiene needs without fear, embarrassment or disruption.

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Kalumbi describes the sanitation block as a source of confidence as it has improved hygiene and motivated girls to attend school consistently. “We now attend school during our periods because we are able to shower and clean ourselves instead of going back home during lessons and missing out,” says the 15-year-old. Her classmate Angela Banda echoes similar sentiments stressing the facilities are spacious and uncongested, enabling them to manage their time efficiently.

The 14-year-old class prefect recalls poor sanitation, space limitations and inadequate provision for personal hygiene at school sometimes caused some girls to abandon lessons. Explains Banda: “They accommodate all of us without affecting school activities. They have also helped the school reduce absenteeism.”

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📰 Article Attribution
Originally published by MWNation • April 06, 2026

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