SC says menstrual health fundamental right, orders sanitary pads in schools
This story was originally published at 18:59 IST on 30 January 2026
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026
NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Friday said the right to menstrual health is a part of the fundamental Right to Life and Right to Education under the Constitution and ordered all states and Union territories to provide free sanitary pads in all government and private schools. Further, all states and Union territories will have to ensure that every school is provided with functional, gender-segregated toilets with usable water connectivity, it said. "A period should end a sentence--not a girl's education," the court said, quoting Melissa Berton, American educator, social activist, and producer.
Inaccessibility of menstrual hygiene management measures undermines the dignity of a girl child, as dignity finds expression in conditions that enable individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion, or avoidable suffering, said a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan. Access to safe, effective, and affordable menstrual hygiene management measures helps a girl child to attain the highest standards of sexual and reproductive health, it said. The right to healthy reproductive life embraces the right to access education and information about sexual health, the bench added.
The court said the lack of access to menstrual hygiene management measures strips away from girls the right to participate on equal terms in school. The domino effect from the absence of education is the inability later on to participate in all walks of life, it said. "We wish to communicate to every girl child who might have become a victim of absenteeism because her body was perceived as a burden that the fault is not hers," the court said.
A school may have adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene, but an unsupportive, even hostile and stigmatised environment, would render them useless, the court said. The environment at school is not a monolith of females and also includes male students, teachers, and staff, the court said. Until the ecosystem is cleansed of the stigma associated with menstruation, the infrastructural efforts would remain underused, it said.
The court said menstruation should not be a topic shared only in hushed whispers. It is important for boys also to be educated about the biological reality, it said. A male student who is not sensitised to the issue may harass a menstruating female student, which may discourage her from attending school, it said.
In this context, the responsibility weighs more heavily on male teachers, it said. They must be sensitised to the needs of a girl child. For instance, a request to go to the restroom or the sudden need to leave the classroom must be treated with sensitivity rather than straight dismissal or invasive questioning, it said.
"Time is over-ripe that we recognise menstrual health as a shared responsibility rather than a woman's issue," the court said. "Awareness must not be limited to girls, but extends to boys, parents, and teachers." When menstruation is discussed openly in schools, it ceases to be a source of shame and is recognised for what it is, a biological fact, the court said. It must be seen as a collective effort rather than a constitutional pull, it added.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation initiated by social worker Jaya Thakur seeking a direction to the Centre and to state governments to ensure the provision of free sanitary pads to every girl child between classes six and 12 and separate toilets for females in all government-aided and residential schools. The petitioner also expressed concern on the issue of lack of menstrual hygiene management in schools. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Rajeev Pai
For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.
Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000
Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.
To read more please subscribe
Share this Story:
