Girls in a village in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh do not go to school for 5-6 days every month. The reason is that on their way to school is a temple, and following age old ideas of taboo associated with menstruation, the villagers do not permit the girls to use this route. As there is no other way to reach the school, the girls are forced to sit at home and in this way miss out on their studies for at least 80 days a year while the govt in the country is promoting schemes for the welfare of the girl child, this remote village in the hills is clearly stuck in the past.