In government schools across Kolkata, adolescent girls are not just learning to manage menstruation; they are learning to stand taller, speak louder, and believe that their dreams matter. Project Pari, an initiative of The WE Foundation, uses menstrual health and hygiene as an entry point to build confidence, dignity, and leadership among school-going girls from low-income communities.
Pari sessions turn classrooms into safe spaces where girls can finally ask the questions they have carried for years—without fear of laughter or judgment. Through games, discussions, and storytelling, they unpack myths, talk about body changes, and learn to support one another. Teachers and boys are engaged as allies, so the burden of change does not rest on girls alone. Menstrual products and practical tips are important, but the real shift happens when a girl realizes: “There is nothing wrong with me, and I don’t have to be ashamed anymore.”
In a Government school of Behala, 13‑year‑old Medha used to sit at the back of the class, terrified of being noticed on the days she had her period. She had skipped school during exams more than once because she feared stains and teasing. After joining Pari activities, Medha learned how to manage her period more confidently and, for the first time, heard a teacher say that menstruation is normal and nothing to hide. A few months later, when a younger student was mocked for a stain, Medha stood up and firmly told the boys to stop, explaining why such jokes hurt. That moment turned her from a quiet follower into someone juniors now approach for help and reassurance.
Another beneficiary, Shreya, had grown up hearing that “good girls don’t talk about these things.” At home, she was expected to keep quiet, follow rules, and never question elders. In Par’s role-plays and group circles, she slowly began sharing how she was pulled out of sports whenever she had her period. Supported by her peers and a sensitive teacher, Shreya gathered the courage to tell her parents she wanted to continue playing even during menstruation. Today, she captains her school’s sports activities and often speaks in morning assembly about respecting girls’ bodies and choices—something she once thought she could never do.
By nurturing girls like Medha and Shreya as leaders, Pari is transforming schools from places where girls shrink themselves to spaces where they take initiative, voice their opinions, and stand up for each other. Parents begin to see their daughters differently too—less as fragile, more as capable and informed. One conversation that replaces silence, one girl who refuses to miss school, one peer who chooses kindness over mockery: these are the small but powerful shifts Pari is seeding across Kolkata.
Project Pari is, at its heart, a story of girls learning that their bodies are not a source of shame, their questions are valid, and their voices can reshape the way families, schools, and communities treat them. One empowered girl, one classroom, one neighbourhood at a time, Pari is helping Kolkata’s young women step into a future where they are not merely enduring girlhood, but owning it.