
Many universities in India’s southern Kerala state have decided to extend menstrual leaveto female students.Earlier, the Kerala government said it was considering giving menstrual leaves to female students in all state universities coming under the Department of Higher Education.
"Taking into consideration the mental and physical difficulties faced by female students during menstruation, necessary steps will be taken to implementmenstrual leave in all universities," higher education minister R Bindu said in a Facebook post on Monday.
The move came after the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University decided to grant menstrual leave for girl students.
In CUSAT, girl students have been given a 2 per cent relaxation in attendance requirements. This means that while students, in general, are required to maintain 75 per cent attendance to appear for examinations, girls will now be required to hold only 73 per cent of attendance.
The decision was taken after requests from the students’ union. CUSAT has over 8,000 students and more than half of them are girls.
"Having considered the requests for menstruation benefits to female students, the Vice-Chancellor has ordered to sanction an additional 2 per cent of condonation of shortage of attendance to female students, in each semester, subject to reporting to the Academic Council," a recent order issued by the joint registrar of CUSAT had said.The education minister hailed the order.
Following CUSAT’s order, female students in other universities in the state also raised similar demands. In December, Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU) in Kerala’s Kottayam became the first university in the state to grant maternity leaveof 60 days to degree and postgraduate students of 18 years and above.
(With inputs from agencies)
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