WASH stakeholders advocate changing rooms and free pads for girls

By Mildred Siabi-Mensah, GNA

Takoradi, Nov. 11, GNA - Practitioners in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector conference have advocated for changing rooms in schools to enable the girl-child have some convenience during their monthly expectations.

They also called for tax exemptions and review of sanitary pad prices particularly in remote communities so that all girls could afford them.

Evidence has it that many girls abandon classroom work and attendance to school during their monthly cycles for fear of soiling themselves due to the use of unapproved materials as well as the absence of convenient places for changing themselves whiles classes were in session.

Mr Patrick Apoya, Group Chief Executive of Skyfox, during one of the sessions, said, " It is surprising that condoms were heavily subsidized as against pads which is a crucial part of the development of the girl-child, meanwhile the decision to have sex is a choice while menstruation for the girl-child is a natural duty".

He said it was worrying that such girls who have the potential to become active contributors to society sometimes have to drop by the wayside in line of the pursuit of formal education.

Meanwhile, most of the schools the GNA visited within the Metropolis evidently lacked such facilities to make teaching and learning for the girl child an enjoyable one.

Mrs Henrietta Quabu, the Metropolitan Girls Officer, said, "We don't have up to 2 percent of the required changing rooms...I can remember Ntankoful, Asakasse, Anaji, New Takoradi as some of the schools with a changing facilities through some NGOs who did a project in the area".

She said the situation made many girls uncomfortable during the period especially girls with heavy flows...their punctuality is affected as well as their concentration.

The Metropolitan Girls Officer said the changing rooms were key components of school health, a facility that must be provided to ensure that nobody was left behind.

GNA

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