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SCHOOL

Swedish teens cause stir with menstruation photo

A Swedish pupil has told The Local she will continue to fight to break taboos after a period-themed yearbook photo was banned by her school.

Published: 22 September 2015 11:32 CEST
Swedish teens cause stir with menstruation photo
Ida Pettersson and her classmates' menstruation-themed picture. Photo: Private

The pupils at the high school near Stockholm said that they initially came up with the idea of dressing up in fake blood, tampons, hygiene pads and chocolate as a “fun thing” to promote talking openly about menstruation.

But the stunt got viral traction when the principal banned the provocative theme from featuring in the year book after the photographer refused to take their picture.

“At first we just thought the picture would be a fun thing to do. We didn't think at all that it would be a big thing, because we don't think it is a big deal – it's just menstruation,” explained Ida Pettersson, 17, who was one of the pupils behind the idea.

The group photograph went viral in Sweden after feminist television personality Clara Henry – who has been campaigning to break taboos surrounding menstruation – shared it on Twitter. But while the youngsters' initiative was lauded by many, some social media users blasted the fake blood as “disgusting”.

“Unfortunately we have received a lot of hatred but much, much more love from people,” said Pettersson.

The school refused the picture on the grounds of its policy that all pictures in the yearbook should be “representative and easily accessible to any beholder”, a condition education bosses argued the pupils' initiative did not meet.

“I wholeheartedly support what they wanted to highlight. But we have a number of opportunities to raise this issue – the school catalogue is not the right forum,” the principal told the Aftonbladet tabloid after the picture went viral in Sweden.

READ ALSO: Cross-dressing teens cause stir in Sweden

Pettersson told The Local on Tuesday that she and her fellow pupils wanted to move on after the public debate and requested that the name of the school remained anonymous. But she added she was pleased that the issue had been raised.

“We really did not think it would become such a big thing, but it did and it is so cool that our story has been spread so much and that we have been able to take up the space we have. We have received so much positive feedback and we are so happy about that,” she said.

“The fight continues!” she added.

The menstruation row comes just weeks after a class in Ronneby in southern Sweden had their school photo banned after they set out to spark debate about gender stereotypes with a cross-dressing picture.

SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Published: 12 March 2021 17:12 CET
Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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