A Non-Governmental Organisation, (NGO), Hope and Dreams Initiative (HDI) has revealed that statistics obtained from a survey by the United Nations Children Fund, indicated that one million pupils miss school every day because of lack of access to sanitary pad.
This is also amplified by a report by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), one in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their menstrual cycle.
“By some estimates, this equals as much as 20 per cent of a given school year. Many girls drop out of school altogether once they begin menstruating,” the report said.
The founder of Hope and Dreams Initiative, Mrs Nguzo Ogbodo, was moved by this development to donate some educational materials including sanitary pads to some schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Ogbodo said the organisation was also sensitising pupils on the importance of menstrual hygiene in schools and its environs.
“Globally, May is the International Hygiene Month and the reason why we chose menstrual hygiene is to create an awareness of the importance of educating them about what young girls all over the world are going through due to non-access to sanitary pad.
“Statistically, UNICEF said that one million misses school every day because they don’t have access to sanitary pad and it is not just the sanitary pad but also wash facilities. When they don’t have access to toilets and hand washing basin, it doesn’t matter if you have the product, you are still not clean.
“So this is what Hope and Dreams Initiative is doing in all the schools. We are working by providing girls with sanitary pads, creating libraries in schools, building toilets and hand washing stations, Ogbodo said.
She noted that the aim of the NGO is to ensure that “every child leaves the school not only learning how to read but to inculcate behavioural change in the child.”
According to her, there is need for stakeholders to be involved by providing basic things that would enable children to remain in school.
Ogbodo therefore called on the Federal Government to be actively involved in ensuring that every female student, apart from getting free education also had access to sanitary materials to aid their learning.
She also appealed to the government to improve more on the security apparatus of the country so that children would be safe in schools.
The NGO also donated a library to the Local Education Authority (LEA) School in Aleyita for both the students of the school and the residents of the community.
Mr Jonathan Mazawaje, one of the community dwellers commended the organisation for donating school library, saying that the facility had been put into effective use.
“The library is very effective and the children are making use of it wisely and there have been changes in the performance of those who have been going to the library,” he said.
Some of the students, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune thanked the organisers for bringing awareness of safe menstrual hygiene to the doorstep of the school, saying many students were not informed about it.
Josephine Sunday, a 15-year-old pupil of LEA Aleyita said she was duly sensitised about menstrual hygiene when the NGO visited the school.
Sunday, who said that she sometimes felt pain in class during her period, noted that she was however able to cope with the help of her teachers.
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