INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE GIRL CHILD MARKED IN BOMET

As the world marked the International Day of the Girl Child on Tuesday the 11^th October Bomet County was not left behind.

The county marked its version at the Bomet Green Stadium at the heart of Bomet Town and attended by women leaders and hundreds of girls drawn from primary and secondary schools in the region led by Bomet County Kenya Girl Guides association commissioner Ms. Stella Maina.

She pointed out that the girl child was faced with numerous challenges and some of those she has encountered as a teacher include girls going without sanitary pads, early pregnancies and those suffering from sexually transmitted diseases.

“Today is a very important day for the girl child and as a teacher we face these challenges one on one but as we hold each other’s hands with other leaders today we are going to mentor these girls, teach them and show them the way.” She said.

Ms. Maina was accompanied by Bomet County Assembly nominated MCAs Mrs. Tablelei Rotich and Mrs. Beatrice Chebomui.

The two leaders underscored the importance of taking care of the girl child just in the same way as was done to the boy child in terms of education, sharing of roles and eventually equal opportunities in careers.

“A times when someone is sick at home the girl child is told to skip going to school in order to take care of a sick relative and also they are forced to take care of so many chores at home while the boys are playing or reading but this should stop and children of both gender should be given equal opportunities as they grow.” Mrs. Rotich said.

Mrs. Chebomui observed that the girl child was fragile and if not given enough care they were bound not to reach their potential by being overburdened by issues facing them in the society.

“There are so many issues like rape cases where our son rape our daughters and as MCAs of Bomet we would like to fight against such challenges facing our society to build a safe and healthy county where the right of the girl child as well as those of the boys are well taken care of.” She said.

This year’s theme being Girl’s progress=Goal’s progress: what counts for girls is a reflection of what is expected through Sustainable Development Goal’s agenda of gender equality which recognizes the girl child as having the same needs as that of the boy child and eventually to contribute equally to the society in terms of development issues and access to basic needs of life including education.

According to UN women website there are over 1.1 billion girls worldwide today with great potential of a pool of talent and creativity but are dogged by a myriad of challenges which include early marriage, discrimination, violence and lack of equal opportunities.