E-Paper
Panjab University V-C appoints committee to look into menstrual leaves for students
The committee, comprising dean university instruction (DUI) Rumina Sethi as the chairperson and professor Meenakshi Goyal of UICET as the V-C’s nominee, will meet on January 24
Panjab University (PU) vice-chancellor (V-C) Renu Vig has formed a committee to look into whether female students should be given menstrual leave or not. The matter was highlighted by Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) president Jatinder Singh and was his main promise while contesting the student council elections.
The committee, comprising dean university instruction (DUI) Rumina Sethi as the chairperson and professor Meenakshi Goyal of UICET as the V-C’s nominee, will meet on January 24. The current and former dean students welfare (DSW) and DSW women are also members while all office bearers of the PUCSC have also been made members.
Speaking about this, Jatinder Singh said, “This is a positive development and we will put forward our case in front of the members. We had spent the last few weeks spreading awareness about the issue and taking the opinions of the students. We will now urge the committee to take a decision soon on this.”
Singh in the run-up to the PUCSC elections had also raised this issue. The National Students Union of India (NSUI) had campaigned regarding the issue actively in women’s hostels. Currently, they are advocating that 10-12 menstrual leaves per semester be given to girl students. However, not all girls are in favour of this.
A meeting was held on November 8 last year to discuss the issue. Fourteen members, including dean students welfare women Simrit Kahlon, chairperson of women studies department Manvinder Sidhu and other professors from PU, attended the meeting. Other issues, including operational challenges in managing and verifying these leaves, its academic disruption and its fairness to students who don’t menstruate, were discussed along with its advantages.
