School days are very busy at Bhairav Secondary School in Jhota, Bajhang. The morning in this village in the far-western part of Nepal is atypically warm for this time of the year and especially more for students participating in the President Running Shield, a sports competition held for students in different schools across the country.
Amidst the players clad in colourful jerseys, run around some important-looking students in red Manchester United jerseys that have been modified to display “AFIC Jhota” on the backside. These students have a significant role at the tournament - they ensure every sportsperson and spectator is fed a protein rich diet of eggs and chana (gram seeds), have enough water to drink, and first aid is immediately available to anybody who needs it.
They carry out their operations from a room in their school premises. The entrance is laden with shoes of all sizes - everyone must take off their shoes before entering. The top of the entrance door reads “AFIC Jhota” and upon entering is a well carpeted cosy room with informational posters on reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, and bodily anatomy put up on the walls side by side with chart papers that display some of the students’ creative work.
This room is the AFIC, short for Adolescent Friendly Information Corner, which is an intervention of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and UNFPA, to provide comprehensive health and rights information, services and referral for young people in a non-judgmental and gender-sensitive manner. The AFIC includes a physical centre where young people can access information, counselling, and services related to reproductive and sexual health, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and gender-based violence.
Rabina Dhami, an eleventh grade student at the school, has been an active member of the AFIC since 2017. Through the AFIC, she has been involved in outreach activities in her community to advocate for an end to issues of domestic violence, child marriage, discrimination and untouchability based on caste and during menstruation.
“It was through this AFIC that I learned that it is okay to drink milk and eat yoghurt when I am on my period,” Dhami says of the age-old practice in western Nepal that does not permit consumption of milk or milk products during menstruation in the fear that the cows will stop producing milk, or die. “Earlier, women were banished to animal sheds during their period but now that practice is disappearing and we stay inside our houses,” she said.
According to Dhami, it was not easy to convince her parents and grandparents to let her eat nutritious food when she was on her period. “I was learning in school that it is necessary to eat well and be rested, but the opposite was happening at home. So, it took me a while to convince my folks at home to give me fruits and vegetables, and milk. But when I was finally able to, I knew I should play a part in educating other people in the village too.”
The AFICs established by UNFPA in Nepal have been successful in breaking down social and cultural barriers and creating a safe and supportive environment for young adolescents to access the information on the components of sexuality education including menstrual and sexual health services they need. It also builds the leadership of young people, giving them the agency to challenge harmful gender norms and practices in their society.
More so, it has been a platform for students to engage beyond the school and their curricula as they have been able to participate in various volunteering and social service activities like community clean-ups, awareness campaigns, especially during Covid-19 pandemic.
As students huddle in different groups inside the AFIC - some reading and some talking amongst themselves - one student rushes in and fills the empty water canister. Another student runs around looking for an ointment immediately requested by an injured player. “The students manage all the things around here, they take all the responsibilities for the physical centre as well as the activities that operate from here,” says Khagendra Nath Biyogee, the focal teacher of this AFIC.
Biyogee is the most venerated person in the premises on that day and also perhaps on any other day. Every student and teacher from their school and even neighbouring schools have adulation for him, for he is the driving force not just behind the AFIC but for the thorough welfare of the school.
The students are in awe of their teacher, especially as they express no hesitation in talking about sex and sexuality, menstruation, and consent and bodily anatomy with him.
“When I was a student, out of 60 students in my biology class, four were girls. On the day they were teaching the reproductive system, the teacher asked the girls to leave and rushed through the text for those of us who were in class,”says Biyogee. “So many years later, I saw that much hadn’t changed so I wanted to bring this development in young minds. I think I would have failed as a teacher if my students couldn't be frank with me. I am grateful for the training on Comprehensive Sexuality Education provided by UNFPA which provided me with ” says Biyogee of the adjective he wants his students to incorporate in their attitudes - free and open-minded.
Through the 187-UNFPA supported AFICs, UNFPA and its partners are working to promote healthy behaviours and reduce the incidence of unintended and teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and gender-based violence among adolescents and young people - representing UNFPA's commitment to promoting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable or marginalised.
Looking at the success of the AFIC in Jhota, others have been inspired. When Indira Bohra, a student of a neighbouring school, visited Bhairav Secondary School’s AFIC with her teachers, she was so inspired by the decorations, set-up, and the activities like health camps, eye check-up, and street dramas that were being conducted through the AFIC. She then requested the teachers at her school to set-up a similar facility. They have now begun their own AFIC and are keen to learn, and conduct and participate in various activities.
The teachers were willing to support the facilitation of such a centre at Bohra’s school because during their visit they too were surprised to witness how girls openly asked for sanitary pads from male teachers. This was when they realised the importance of such adolescent-friendly corners as it helped young girls and boys break out of traditional gender norms especially those that strictly see menstruation as a huge taboo to even talk about openly.
“In rural areas, awareness around menstruation hygiene is usually low. Through our AFICs, our girls are fully educated about periods and period products and they have even been able to convey to the women in their family about the importance of maintaining hygiene during menstruation, and using period-friendly products like pads instead of rags,”according to Shanti Bohara, the principal of the school. Some students have also learnt how to make reusable pads using cotton cloths and have given reusable pad making training to other women in the community as disposing of non-reusable pads is often a problem for them.
Similarly, Kalpana Khati of another school also has started an AFIC of her own accord and it is slowly growing. Both Khati and Bohra are extremely passionate towards making their respective AFICs successful.
Looking at how the multi-purpose model AFIC of Jhota has provided an enabling environment for school-going students, Ganesh Bahadur Bohara, the chairperson of Kedarsyun Municipality of Jhota in Bajhang in far-western Nepal where the school is located, has pledged to support the centres with laptops and other facilities.
Based on the successes that the AFIC has in going beyond CSE, he believes that they should be replicated in every school, not only within the municipality but covering entire Nepal.
***
The AFICs have been able to serve adolescents all over Nepal through the support of the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
