The national launch is in fulfilment of the President’s campaign promise and as part of the Government’s broader commitment to gender equity in education.
It marks a significant step toward promoting menstrual health and hygiene, as well as improving educational outcomes for adolescent girls across the country.
President Mahama, in his remarks, noted that he spoke on Wednesday to Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who was recuperating in the United Kingdom, and that she was doing very well and would soon return home.
“I wish to extend the greetings of Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang to all of you. I spoke to her yesterday and I told her we were going to miss her at this event because this is a programme that is very dear to her.
“She said I should say hello to all of you and to say she is recuperating and catching a bit of rest. She is very well and soon she will join us to continue to prosecute the reset agenda.”
The President lauded Vice President Prof Opoku-Agyemang, who was the Education Minister during his previous administration, at that time championed a pilot project to get the Free Sanitary Pad Distribution Initiative implemented.
President Mahama noted that despite their efforts during his previous administration to implement the Free Sanitary Pad Distribution Programme, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) strongly opposed it and made mockery of it at that time, hence it was cancelled.
“And so that pilot was undertaken, but I remember when we tried to pass it through Parliament, for the first time, it sounded very strange.
“And for those who were in Parliament at the time, they will remember, our opposition bench called it the pad loan, if you remember,” he stated.
“And a lot of mockery was made that a government will go to take a loan to supply sanitary pads for girls; because at the time, this challenge was not very well understood, even by members of Parliament.
“Today, I’m happy that everybody accepts that this is the right thing to do. Because it is a natural process of creation.”
President Mahama said the menstrual cycle the nation’s daughters go through every month was just their identity as women.
He said God created women/girls to go through that so that they could exercise their reproductive function of the human race, so that they could reproduce mankind; saying “and that is why every month they have to go through that inconvenience”.
He said the least society could do was to support them and assist them with what they needed to be able to go through it with dignity and with hygiene.
“And so I’m happy that today we’ve reached this point. Everybody accepts that we should invest national resources in order that our girl children can have confidence to be able to go to school without fearing that they will become the laughing stock of their friends,” President Mahama said.
He said the launch of the Free Sanitary Pad distribution initiative would enable girls to go school.
He said the future was worth every investment that they could make in it.
The President said the Free Sanitary Pad Distribution Programme was more than just the distribution of sanitary pads; saying “it is a clear declaration that no girl in Ghana should miss school because of a menstrual period”.
“Far too many of our daughters, our nieces and sisters have missed out on education, not because they lack the academic intelligence and the flair or the will or the ambition, but simply because they lack access to proper sanitary products.”
President Mahama said research had shown that girls could miss up to five school days each month, amounting to nearly 40 days of schooling a year; adding that “This is not just a statistic”.
“It represents a young girl failing, falling behind in class, losing her confidence and struggling to catch up because of what is a natural biological process. This reality is unacceptable. In Ghana, where we aim for progress, equity and justice, this must not continue.”
The President said menstruation should never be a reason for exclusion or shame and that it should not be a barrier to education or self-achievement every year.
“To our parents, I say, you have carried this burden for too long, having to choose between books, food, fees and sanitary products. Help is here. And help is here to stay. This is not a one-time gesture,” President Mahama said.
“This is a sustained policy commitment, and we will expand it with your support and your feedback.”
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, said the launch was to see a terminal end to the unbearable emotional trauma and indignity that young girls go through responding to the natural call.
This, he said, was to ensure that no girl child in Ghana absented herself from school because of period.
Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said the initiative was part of a broader strategy to promote menstrual health, improve school attendance, and ultimately enhance the academic performance of school girls.
The function was chaired by Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, the Ga Mantse.
GNA
