By Dennis Peprah
Aboabo Number Four, (Bono), Aug. 18, GNA – A queen mother has lauded the government’ Free Sanitary Pad Distribution programme, saying the initiative will greatly control school dropouts and promote girl child-education in rural communities.
Nana Ama Anima Tutuwaa, the Nkosuahemaa (development queen) of the Adontenhene Traditional Division of the Dormaa Traditional Area said President John Dramani Mahama ought to be commended for his concern and sensitivity in alleviating the plight of vulnerable girls.
President John Dramani Mahama launched the Free Sanitary Pad Distribution Programme to promote gender equality and improve school attendance among girls.
The initiative will provide free sanitary pads to girls from Primary five through Senior High School nationwide.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Aboabo Number Four in the Dormaa Municipality of the Bono Region, Nana Tutuwa noted the high school-dropouts of girls in most of the deprived communities was largely due to their inability to access or afford to buy sanitary pads.
Nana Tutuwaa also the Head teacher of the Aboabo Number Four Primary School noted that girls’ school dropout rate was high in rural communities because of the lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities.
Nonetheless, she said the government free pad distribution programmes would partly help address the situation and called on development partners to also support the government by helping to improve WASH facilities in basic schools.
Nana Tutuwaa also expressed concern that the growing teenage pregnancy in the area was also impeding girl-child education and called for decisive and collective efforts to stem the menace. She mentioned lack of parental care, poverty and peer influences as some of the factors contributing to teenage pregnancy in the area.
Nana Tutuwaa suggested that intensified public awareness on the effect of substance abuse was also required to control the rising illicit drug abuse among the young people in the area.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Kenneth Odeng Adade