Nyanza graduates step up to support pupils

By GEORGE OLWENYA

For three days, the Standard Seven pupil did not attend school for reasons she was not ready to share even with her class teacher.

When the teacher insisted to know why she was absent, she just stared at her.

After the teacher got angry threatening to punish her and sent her home to bring her parents, the teenager, with tears welling in her eyes, said she had been sick.

She is among thousands of primary and secondary school girls who are unable to access sanitary towels.

The Ministry of Education statistics show that a girl who cannot afford sanitary towels loses four days of learning every month during menstruation, which is about 39 days of learning each year.

Reason to smile

Research shows that due to poverty, many parents in the country cannot afford sanitary towels for their daughters and particularly for the young girls still in primary school.

But at Kitambo Primary School in Rarieda District, pupils in Standard Seven and Eight have all reasons to smile.

Thanks to Amako women group who have come up with a noble idea to provide the female pupils with the sanitary towels.

"The initiative (dubbed Sanitary Pads Project) is a big blessing to our girls and I know they will now not miss classes during their periods", says elated head teacher of the institution, Paul Otieno.

Mr Otieno says the school has been witnessing chronic absenteeism among girls in Standard Seven and Eight who opt to avoid school for reasons that had taken them time to understand.

"They claim they were sick but when you ask one why she did not go to hospital, she just stares at you," says the administrator.

The girls will each receive a year’s supply of the pads and four panties.