Context: Effect of menstrual hygiene on health of women is still not given sufficient attention in developing countries. Adolescent girls are vulnerable if they do not have awareness and good menstrual hygiene practices. 

Aims: To study menstrual hygiene practices and factors affecting it among school going adolescent girls.

Settings and Design: A school based cross sectional comparative study. Methods and Material: Present study was conducted at selected government and private schools among 171 adolescent girls (74 from government school) and (97 from private school) belonging to class 8th to class 10th.

Statistical Analysis: The data were analyzed by Chi­Square test and p value less than or equal to 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.

Results: 90.8% of the girls belonging to government school used sanitary napkins compared to 98.9% of the girls belonging to private school and this difference was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the girls of two schools relating to sanitary disposal method. Myths related to menstruation were also found to be similar among girls of both the schools. It was found that mother was the main source of information related to menstruation in 74.7% of the cases. 51.9% of the girls were found to be aware about the government scheme of free distribution of sanitary napkins. It was found that majority (72.5%) received the sanitary napkin under government scheme among those who were aware about the scheme. Except mother’s education, other factors like father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, father’s education, and type of school were not significantly associated with good menstrual hygiene practices.

Conclusion: Mother’s education level played a significant role in good menstrual hygiene of the daughter. Health education programs should target the awareness of the mothers in the community.

Keywords: Menstrual Hygiene; Adolescent Girl; Mother’s Education.