Menstrual and maternity leaves for girl students in all universities in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The Higher Education Department issued an order on Thursday granting menstrual leave for students under all the higher education institutions in Kerala. Girl students can now appear for their semester exams with 73 per cent attendance as against the 75 per cent mandated under the University Rules till now.

Cochin University of Science and Technology was the first to announce the groundbreaking gender-sensitive education reform.

The Higher Education Department's order on Thursday went a step further. It also grants a pregnancy leave of 60 days maximum for all girl students above the age of 18. "Urgent measures will be taken to amend university rules to reflect the new decisions," the order said.

The Department's order has come three days after higher education minister R Bindu lauded CUSAT's move to grant menstrual benefits and said that the State government also was convinced of the mental and physical ordeal girl students had to suffer during their menstrual cycles. Bindu said the CUSAT model would soon be implemented in all universities in Kerala.

It was on January 11 that CUSAT announced leave for menstruating students. This is a first in higher education institutions in Kerala and comes close on the heels of the maternity leave allowed by the Mahatma Gandhi University to students.

Here is what the order issued by the CUSAT joint registrar had said: "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."

Right after the CUSAT decision, Kerala Technological University too had implemented the decision. It was SFI unions led by girls in both CUSAT and KTU that had placed such a demand before the universities.

The latest order by the Higher Education Department is especially consequential for Kerala as it has more females than males in its higher education institutions.

A survey conducted by the Union Ministry of Higher Education in 2019-20 found that 58 per cent of students joining degree and post-graduation courses in Kerala are female. It is 56.5 per cent in degree courses. For PG courses, it is 70.5 per cent females. The national average is 49 per cent.