A philanthropist, Madam Rita Yaaloonaa Bayor, has extended menstrual hygiene education to school children at the Saint Augustine’s Junior High School at Daffiama in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) District.
The education was to enlighten the school children on menstrual hygiene, teach them how to wear a sanitary pad and to also distribute some sanitary pads to them.
Speaking to the school children at Daffiama on Wednesday, Madam Bayor indicated that though menstruation was an important stage of a woman’s life, it could also destruct the education of the girl child if care was not taken.
“When the girl starts menstruating and she does not get the right education, it can disrupt her education. When some of them starts menstruating they stop schooling because they say they are afraid of the stigma and mockery in case the blood stains on their dresses”, she explained.
She said others manage to go to school but their concentration is not always in the class but rather on their mensuration in order not to be messed-up.
Madam Bayor, who was also the Gender Desk Officer at the DBI District education directorate, observed that some girls at the rural level could not afford the cost of a sanitary pad hence her decision to donate some to them.
“I gave them the pad and thought them how to wear them so that they will not soil themselves with the blood”, Madam Bayor added.
She indicated that some girls at the rural communities who could not afford the sanitary pad resorted to the use of rags as alternatives to the sanitary pads which could also cause infection to the girls.
The philanthropist therefore urged parents to take much interest in the well-being of their children by providing them with their basic needs such as sanitary pads.
She said the need for sanitary pads could lead the vulnerable girls into teenage pregnancy as they would seek those things from men who would in turn demand sex from them.
Madam Bayor said her intention was to extend the intervention to other schools in the district to enable the children stay in school.
The donation was supported by Lawyer Thaddeus Sory, Reverend Father Martin Naader, Mr Martin Yelbora, all of whom are sons of the DBI District.