The Education ministry plans to designate special rooms in schools for girls to change sanitary towels.
Currently girls use toilets, where they are exposed to germs and the risk of infection.
A report in possession of the Star shows that in 2019, some 10,000 students were treated for urinary tract infections.
The National Hospital Insurance Fund report shows a rising number of UTIs among secondary school students.
"We are considering having special rooms exclusively for menstrual hygiene," Education CAS Mumina Bonaya said in a virtual presentation by the National Assembly Education committee.
The committee wanted to know what measures the ministry had put in place to ensure menstrual hygiene in schools once they reopen.
"In rural areas, schools largely depend on pit latrines for disposal of sanitary towels while in urban areas, schools largely depend on sanitary containers," Mumina said.
If adopted the move will be a game changer in providing dignity to girls in their puberty, said educationist Janet Ouko.
The ministry launched a free sanitary towels programme in 2017 to keep vulnerable schoolgirls from dropping out of school or missing classes during their periods.
However, due to budgetary constraints the programme serves only a fraction of the more than 1.4 million schoolgirls who have started their menstrual period.
Education CS George Magoha in September 2019 said the government cannot supply the towels to all girls due to budgetary constraints.
He said with the Sh470 million provided for the programme, the ministry can only buy four months worth of sanitary towels.
"If you calculate the current allocation against a population of 1.4 million girls, then at best we can provide sanitary towels for only four months. What happens for the rest of the year?" Magoha asked.
Data from the ministry shows that a girl absent from school for four of 28 days loses 13 learning days. This is equivalent to two weeks of learning in every school term.
In an academic year (nine months) a girl loses 39 learning days equivalent to six weeks of learning time.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya
