Lack of pads pushes 22pc girls out of school

Kenya: Some Sh2.4 billion is required to provide girls with sanitary towels annually. This translates to Sh200 million monthly or Sh50 each for four million girls. But girls may face even more challenges as the government cuts down the allocation of funds for sanitary pads by Sh80 million. Its budgetary allocation this year is Sh100 million for the project.

A baseline survey by Jielimishe Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) project has revealed that 48 per cent of girls are in school compared to 52 per cent of boys. The study however highlights that there are regional disparities with some counties having only 20 per cent of girls in school compared to 80 per cent boys.