The southern Indian state of Kerala has many universities that have chosen to provide female students more time off for menstruation.
The Kerala government had previously stated that it was thinking about granting women students at all state universities under the Department of Higher Education menstruation leaves.
Menstrual vacation will be implemented in all universities, the higher education minister R Bindu announced on Facebook on Monday, taking into account the emotional and physical challenges experienced by female students during this time.
The action was taken in response to the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University’s decision to allow girls students to take menstruation vacation.
The CUSAT has relaxed the attendance criteria for female students by 2%. This means that whereas students must generally maintain a 75% attendance rate in order to appear for exams, ladies will now just need to maintain a 73% attendance rate.
Following pleas from the students’ union, the decision was made. More than 8,000 students attend CUSAT, and more than half of them are female.
According to a recent directive from the joint registrar of CUSAT, “having taken into consideration the requests for menstruation benefits to female students, the Vice-Chancellor has ordered to sanction an additional 2% of condonation of shortage of attendance to female students, in each semester, subject to reporting to the Academic Council.” The decree was praised by the education minister.
Female students at other universities in the state made comparable demands in response to CUSAT’s directive. The first institution in Kerala to offer degree and postgraduate students who are 18 years of age and older maternity leave of 60 days was Kottayam’s Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU) in December.
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Absolutely important move