There is a village in Pithoragarh tehsil, where girl students are forced to skip their school for at least five days every month during their period as a temple dedicated to a local deity falls in their way to school.
Villagers believe that the temple would be contaminated if girls, when they are menstruating were pass the area which has led parents to restrict girls to stay at home during menstruating.
The Taboo has forced numbers of girls determined to get a higher education had to move to nearby cities and compelled to stay with their relatives and at hostels. According to leading English Daily, a team of the local administration will now be sent to counsel parents requesting girls to attend classes.
The issue came to light when a team of NGO belonging to Uttarakhand paid a visit to this area. Uma Bhatt, who led the team of NGO Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, told The Times of India that girls from the village who attend Sail Government Intercollege have been skipping school for up to five days during their period.
“A temple dedicated to local deity Chamu Devta falls on the route to school. Teachers have been trying to encourage girls to attend classes but parents fear a backlash from the community and thus don’t allow the girls to go to school,” Bhatt said.
On the request of anonymity, a former teacher said, “People here are very conservative. We tried several times to create awareness among parents and persuade them to let their daughters attend school but most of them did not want to defy traditional norms.”
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