Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Saint-Hilaire

The Brazilian school tackling violence against girls and menstrual poverty

Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Saint-Hilaire, a public kindergarten and primary school in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, is tearing through the taboos associated with violence against girls and menstrual poverty through its In Search of the Gardens project, creating a safer reality for female students in an environment where they feel supported, protected and empowered to learn. The school is located in Vila Panorama, a rural community on the outskirts of Porto Alegre, where food insecurity often means that children are left without a daily meal. The area is also facing a gender violence crisis with one of the highest numbers of sexual assaults in the region, along with a women’s health crisis. This is having a detrimental impact on education, with many girls abandoning their schooling completely. 

Determined to change this reality, the school implemented its transformative In Search of the Gardens project, a student-led initiative to break the silence around stigmatised issues and have women’s health topics formally integrated into the school’s curriculum. The project encourages open discussions around sexual violence, menstrual dignity and body image, creating a safe space for children to speak up despite the sensitive nature of the topics. Methodologies for prevention and support have been implemented, and if a student makes an abuse disclosure, the school’s designated Orientation service, a government-supported initiative, takes action based on established procedures. This child- and women-focused approach is breaking the silence on menstruation and tackling period poverty in schools. 

With students as protagonists, the project encouraged more than 300 children to report sexual violence in 2024 alone. The students have written a book motivating children to report sexual violence and created a pedagogical bag with the tools to help and encourage teachers to address the topic in classrooms. The School Health Programme, the State Committee for Preventing and Combating Sexual Violence against Children and Adolescents, and the Advisory for Human Rights and Ethnoracial Relations have formally recognised the methodology as a reference in the educational field.

For girls who previously had to either miss school or improvise with rags, newspapers, sheets and other items during their period, the development of a menstrual health kit that includes sustainable sanitary pads, along with a methodology to talk about menstruation, has empowered students to take control of their bodies and their education. Learners have also written the first book by children in Brazil about menstrual health. The initiative has moved beyond school walls, with students and teachers participating in events at other schools in the region to bring the urgent message that “children who have periods are still children” into the light. 

Inspired by the project, many girls now aspire to become lawyers or teachers to continue and expand its impact within vulnerable communities, proving that by integrating critical safety and health education into structured curricula, girls can project themselves into a future where they feel safe and confident to thrive.