– Shalomword Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with focus on education has observed that “period poverty” was keeping many girls, especially those in the rural areas, out of school.
‘Period poverty’ refers to the lack of access to sanitary products by girls due to financial constraints, a situation that many take for granted, the NGO said.
Ms Shalom Abla Lumor, Executive Director of the Foundation said her observation was that girls in the Central Tongu District skipped school between four to seven days every month because they did not have hygienic sanitary products to take care of themselves.
She said, “it will shock you to know that some of these girls have never used a sanitary towel before…” reason they feared to go to school during their menses.
Ms Lumor said her Foundation was therefore securing funds to give girls in the district a year’s supply of sanitary towels to help keep them in school.
She said in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals on education, sanitation, health and gender equality by 2030, menstrual hygiene needed to be looked at critically and called for support.
The NGO in line with keeping girls in school, is also collaborating with the Central Tongu Directorate of the Ghana Education Service to organise a Basic Education Certificate Examination Candidates Seminar on the theme: “Declaring War on Teenage Pregnancy in the Central Tongu District”.
The drive is to ensure that girls in the district successfully completed Junior high school.
Source : GNA
