Kishori Suchita Abhiyan

What is Kishori Suchita Abhiyan?

Kishori Suchita Abhiyan is a Tripura government programme that supplies free sanitary napkins to girls studying in Classes 6 to 12 and runs menstrual hygiene awareness camps inside schools. The name means, roughly, "adolescent girls' cleanliness campaign", and the scheme was launched on 21 January 2021 with the state Education Department as the implementing department, working alongside the Health and Family Welfare Department's adolescent health machinery.

Kishori Suchita Abhiyan covers approximately 1,68,252 students and carries a state allocation of about Rs 3,61,63,248 over three years. The design is unusually simple: no form, no income certificate, no caste criterion, no bank account. Napkins are supplied to schools and handed out there, so a girl who is on the roll is covered.

Key parameters

• Benefit: free sanitary napkins, distributed inside the school.
• Coverage: girls in Classes 6 to 12.
• Beneficiaries: about 1,68,252 students.
• Allocation: about Rs 3.61 crore from the state exchequer over three years.
• Launched: 21 January 2021.
• Second component: menstrual hygiene awareness camps for both girls and boys.

Why does Kishori Suchita Abhiyan exist?

Kishori Suchita Abhiyan targets a specific and well-documented failure: girls drop out of school days, and eventually out of school altogether, when menstruation is handled badly. Two things drive that. The first is cost. A family that is stretched will not buy napkins every month for a school-going daughter. The second is silence: if a girl cannot say why she needs to leave the classroom, she stays home instead.

The scheme attacks both. Free napkins available at the school solve the access problem at the exact moment it arises, rather than requiring the family to plan a purchase. The awareness camps, which involve boys as well as girls, are aimed squarely at the silence. The stated objective includes normalising public discussion of menstrual hygiene rather than treating it as a private problem for girls to manage alone.

Who is eligible for Kishori Suchita Abhiyan?

A girl is covered if:

• She is enrolled in a school in Tripura.
• She is studying in Class 6 to Class 12.

That is the whole test. Kishori Suchita Abhiyan applies no income limit, no ration card category test, no caste or community criterion and no residence certificate requirement beyond being on the school roll.

Who is not covered:

• Girls below Class 6. The programme begins at Class 6 because that is where menarche typically starts to matter for school attendance.
• Out-of-school adolescent girls are not covered through this route, because the delivery channel is the school itself. Girls who have dropped out cannot apply under Kishori Suchita Abhiyan and should approach their ASHA worker or Anganwadi centre, which distribute sanitary napkins under the national adolescent health programme.
• College and university students are outside the Class 6 to 12 band and are not eligible under this scheme.

What documents do I need?

No income certificate, caste certificate, Aadhaar card, ration card or bank account is required. That is a deliberate design choice; every document a scheme demands is a barrier, and for a benefit worth a few hundred rupees a year the paperwork would cost more than the benefit.

How to apply for Kishori Suchita Abhiyan

Kishori Suchita Abhiyan has no application form, so the practical steps are about making sure the school channel actually reaches you:

1. Confirm you are on the school roll in Class 6 or above. Enrolment is the only eligibility condition.
2. Ask the class teacher or the school's designated female teacher where and when napkins are distributed. Many schools appoint a specific teacher or run a fixed collection point precisely so students do not have to ask in front of the class.
3. Collect the napkins at the school distribution point. Nothing is payable. No student should be asked for money, and no receipt or form is needed.
4. Attend the awareness camp when your school holds one. These sessions cover menstrual hygiene, safe disposal and health, and are open to boys as well as girls.
5. Report a supply gap to the head of the institution if napkins are not available, and escalate to the District Education Officer if the gap persists for more than a few weeks.

How is the scheme delivered?

Kishori Suchita Abhiyan runs on the existing school system rather than a new administrative structure. The Education Department procures and supplies napkins to institutions; the head of the institution is responsible for storage and distribution; a designated teacher usually handles the actual handover so that the process is discreet. Awareness camps are conducted at school level, and the Health and Family Welfare Department's adolescent health staff, ASHA workers and health educators: support the counselling component.

The three-year allocation of about Rs 3.61 crore against roughly 1.68 lakh students works out to a small per-student amount, which is realistic for a consumable of this kind and is why the scheme depends heavily on procurement timeliness rather than on the size of the budget.

How do I check whether my school is covered?

There is no online beneficiary list for Kishori Suchita Abhiyan, because there are no individual beneficiaries registered — the unit of allocation is the school. To check:

1. Ask the head of the institution whether the school has received its supply for the current term.
2. Ask the District Education Officer if the school says nothing has arrived.
3. Check schooleducation.tripura.gov.in for departmental notices and circulars about the programme.

Common problems and how to fix them

• Napkins out of stock at the school. This is the dominant complaint under any school-based distribution scheme. Escalate in writing from the head of the institution to the District Education Officer, since a written record is what moves the next supply order.
• No private distribution point. If napkins are handed out in a way that embarrasses students, ask the school to appoint a female teacher and a fixed discreet collection point. Schools have discretion here.
• No disposal facility. Napkins without a disposal bin or incinerator in the school toilet block solves half the problem and creates the other half. Raise it with the school management committee.
• Awareness camp never held. The camps are part of the scheme, not an optional extra; the District Education Officer can direct the school to hold one.
• Someone asks for payment. Kishori Suchita Abhiyan is free. Report any demand for money on the CM Helpline immediately.

Key dates

• 21 January 2021: Kishori Suchita Abhiyan launched.
• Ongoing, no application window, no last date; a girl becomes eligible the day she enters Class 6 and remains eligible through Class 12.

How to raise a grievance

• Head of the institution, then the District Education Officer. The correct escalation for supply, storage and distribution problems.
• Tripura CM Helpline: 1905, the state's single-window grievance number, with online filing at cmhelpline.tripura.gov.in and WhatsApp on 6033374544.
• School Education Department, Government of Tripura; schooleducation.tripura.gov.in, telephone 0381-2323835 (IT cell).
• Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Tripura, health.tripura.gov.in, Health Directorate Building, Pandit J. N. Complex, Gurkhabasti, Agartala, for the adolescent health and counselling side.
• State grievance portal: grievance.tripura.gov.in.