New Delhi: About eight months after the Supreme Court directed the Centre and state governments to establish a menstrual hygiene regime in schools, a majority of states and Union Territories are struggling to comply, according to data submitted to the top court last week.
According to the January 2026 decision, the central and state governments have to ensure functional gender-segregated toilets with usable water, availability of free sanitary napkins, and environment-friendly waste disposal management system in all schools.
Centre’s comprehensive affidavit reveals that even as states have shown considerable progress with regards to gender-segregated toilets, many don’t have sufficient cleaning staff, pointing to a maintenance and resourcing gap in implementation of the apex court’s directions.
The direction for free and easy access to sanitary napkin schools for girl students also remains to be implemented—except in Chandigarh, where all schools have installed vending machines and even made provision, otherwise, for free napkins. While all schools in Puducherry too have vending machines for sanitary pads, arrangements are yet to be made in all 428 schools for free supply of the napkins. So far, only 36.2 percent of schools in the UT have this facility.
Going by the data, schools also appear to be struggling to place covered waste trash bins within their compounds. Only six states have reported full compliance of this measure.
Centre’s affidavit is a status report of what the states have achieved with respect to the court’s January directions. The judgement was delivered on a public interest litigation by social activist Jaya Thakur, seeking free sanitary pads for every girl student in Classes 6 to 12, and separate toilets in all government-aided and residential schools, along with toilet maintenance and awareness programmes.
Delivering its verdict, the top court bench led by Justice J.B. Pardiwala had declared that menstrual health is part of the right to life under Article 21 and right to education under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. Menstrual health is also tied to dignity, bodily autonomy and equality entitled to every girl student, the bench had added.
Compliance, the court had said, was mandatory for both government and private institutions, and the Union’s national menstrual hygiene policy is to be implemented pan-India. The court had set a three-month compliance window, warned of de-recognition of private schools, and made state governments directly accountable for public institutions.
As it laid down a binding, court-monitored obligation on all states and UTs, the court had issued a continuous mandamus in the case, requiring the Centre to update it on a regular basis with progress of the work.
The central government’s consolidated affidavit, disclosing the amount of work carried out in each state, following the judgement, is in response to this direction. The affidavit is based on the information the Centre received from each state in August.
Critical gaps in implementation
Presenting the updated status of work in each state, the Centre appreciated the efforts of all state governments, who, it said, have focused on innovative educational and media strategies to strengthen awareness and reduce stigma around menstruation.
But state-wise break-up discloses critical gaps in the implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Status reports filed before the Centre do not give clarity on how many private schools are in breach of the order.
On the provision of functional toilets, handwash and water connectivity, the affidavit showed that except for Madhya Pradesh (46.79 percent) and Mizoram (50.5 percent), in most of the states more than 70 percent of schools have gendered toilets with hand wash facilities. All schools in four states (Delhi, Punjab, Goa and Assam) and three UTs (Daman & Diu, Lakshwadeep and Puducherry) have reported having this facility.
The data also showed that there are no cleaners in more than 2,400 schools in Arunachal Pradesh, whereas in Jharkhand, only one percent of the 35,457 schools have them. Uttarakhand is the third state, where cleaners are employed in less than 10 percent of its schools. The state has reported compliance of this directive in only four percent of its schools.
Fifteen states—including Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Assam—did not submit any information on hiring cleaners. But status reports of five UTs (Daman & Diu, Lakshwadeep, Chandigarh and Puducherry) and five states (Punjab, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Delhi) inform that there are cleaners in all the schools within the respective jurisdiction.
On access to sanitary products, seven states and UTs—Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Odisha and Uttarakhand—have reported that vending machines have been installed in more than 50 percent of the schools. In the rest of the states, the compliance was reported between one to 50 percent.
While 2.6 percent of more than 95,000 schools in Bihar have these machines, in Andhra Pradesh only five percent of 61,079 schools have them. According to Uttar Pradesh’s submission to the Centre, 9,957 of more than 1.25 lakh schools have the machines. In Madhya Pradesh, 1.19 lakh schools are yet to install them, shows the state’s compliance report.
Since 21 states have accepted that the SC direction to ensure free availability of sanitary napkins to girl students is yet to be followed in 50 percent of the schools in their jurisdiction, several schools are in breach of binding directions.
Last week, upon reviewing Centre’s affidavit, the Supreme Court bench flagged the discrepancies and was critical of the states that claimed full compliance. It said that the circular meant little to a student, if the toilet is unusable or water is unavailable. The court then directed the District Education Officers to form teams of teachers to carry out surprise inspections of every school in their jurisdiction.
Advocate Varun Thakur, who appeared for the petitioner in the matter, told ThePrint that an independent committee must be constituted to supervise implementation of the court order.
“This was a landmark judgement where the court read menstrual hygiene as an important facet of the right to live with dignity as well as a girl student’s right to education. These directives cannot remain on paper and only a court-appointed independent panel can monitor its implementation,” he said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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