Coalition lauds government’s decision to give students sanitary pads
Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has supported and commended the government’s decision to use part of the $156 million World Bank credit facility for the provision of sanitary pads to students in senior and junior high schools.
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At a press conference held in Accra on Thursday, the Chairman of the GNECC, Mr Bright Appiah, said many girls dropped out of school due to cultural factors and reproductive health reasons.
Purpose of the scholarship scheme
He stated that the purpose of the scholarship scheme, which was to improve and increase access to secondary education, would be defeated if girls had to miss a number of days at school as a result of their reproductive health challenges.
Mr Appiah said the distribution of the sanitary towels would encourage girl-child education in rural areas and alleviate the challenges young girls encountered when accessing secondary education.
The proposal to provide sanitary towels to the female students, however, has been met with stiff opposition from some Members of Parliament (MPs), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers. According to them, the buying of the material was a misplaced priority
Projections of the Coalition
Per the group’s calculations, Mr Appiah estimated that an amount of US$100,000 would be spent annually on procuring the sanitary towels and called for a sustainable mechanism to ensure the regular supply of the material to girls in rural areas.
The coalition, according to Mr Appiah, was of the view that concerns being raised by some sections of the public should be directed at ensuring that requisite measures were instituted to enable the vulnerable girls access the support.
He said the project appraisal document of the programme was expected to benefit approximately 30,000 new students in secondary education, 150,000 students in low performing schools and 2,000 SHS teachers.
Stakeholders
“It is, therefore, pertinent that all stakeholders, including the media and members of the public understand all the key details of this project, for the greater purpose of ensuring that the relevant government agencies at the national, regional and district levels, as well as school authorities, are monitored and held accountable,” he said.
Giving some statistics on the programme, Mr Appiah said, expansion works would be executed in 125 secondary schools, a situation, he said, would address the current high demand for secondary education.
“A total of 14 districts without public SHSs and additional nine districts, have been identified for new school to create new spaces for those demanding seats in SHS and to fill these spaces with new students coming from previously underserved communities,” he said.