Management of Schools' Changing Rooms to Support Menstruating School Girls: The Nexus of Participation in Learning Through the Lenses of Equity and Social Justice

Introduction

Since Tanzania's independence in the 1960s, a concerted effort has been made to ensure the provision of Universal Primary Education (UPE). The Worldwide Education for ALL held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000 reminded the state Governments to keep on their commitments to the 1990 Jomtien Conference in Thailand. To ensure Universal provisions of education to all school-aged children, the Tanzanian Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) tremendously expanded primary and ordinary secondary education. At the global level, education expansion issues have been at the forefront of the discussion of the development agenda within the framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the end of 2015. Target number 4.1 of SDGs has focused on fee-free primary and secondary education to achieve free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. The SDGs target number 4.1 implies commitments by all states that all governments across the globe should ensure that all girls and boys have access to basic education by the end of 2030.

The global effort to enhance equitable participation in learning for boys and girls has been at the forefront of the Sustainable Development Goals to achieve overall social justice by the end of 2030 and push future economic growth worldwide. In the past six years since 2015, enrolments have surged in Tanzania for primary and secondary levels, and boys and girls of school age are now accessing schooling due to fee-free education. Despite the current increase in enrolment, within-school factors that hinder girls' attendance or may intensify schoolgirl dropouts are far from reality. However, classrooms have been constructed in all administrative districts in Tanzania to accommodate all successful pupils transitioning to the secondary school level. But gender-specific school resources have not been addressed to tune with the surging enrolments of girls at the secondary school level (Hennegan & Montgomery, 2016; Nakaye, 2018; Sommer et al., 2016). School changing rooms and associated sanitary resources for supporting schoolgirls during menstruation cannot match the surging enrolments. Suppose gender-specific issues are rarely addressed while enrolling more secondary schoolgirls. In that case, the possibility of widening the gender gap in learning achievement between schoolgirls and boys will soon be imminent.

Evidence shows that most secondary school girls are at puberty in the first or second year of study. To ensure the achievement of the 2030 global target of fee-free, equitable and quality secondary education, the school system, especially within-school factors, such as school changing rooms and associated sanitary resources for schoolgirls, must be given priority by schoolteachers and the whole school management team. It is reasonable to apply our logic of equitable distribution of public resources and services. Schoolgirls need safe and private conditions while in menstruation to effectively participate in learning as peers of the other sex.

Improved and equitable participation in learning for girls and boys has become necessary in national, regional, and global policy frameworks. Access and participation in education have been a priority for improving teaching and learning processes. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) enshrined towards enhancing access and participation have considered fairness and justice as critical factors for male and female school-aged children. One of the priority targets stipulated in the SDGs agenda is to ensure inclusive and equitable education through seventeen (17) global goals, which are to be achieved by 2030.

In its Education 2030 Agenda, all state governments have committed to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UNESCO, 2017). Other global goals related to inclusive and equitable education are poverty reduction, hunger, health, equality in gender, sanitation, and clean water. The Government of Tanzania has tried to ensure equity in access and participation in secondary education for boys and girls by expanding opportunities to the local level. To improve schoolgirls' participation in learning, significant variables, especially sanitation and clean water in changing rooms, need close management from the school administration. To ensure inclusive and equitable learning among students, the Tanzania Education and Training Policy (TETP) of 2014 explicitly declared that: