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A total of 347 Junior High School (JHS) girls from 15 selected schools in the Lambussie-Karni District of the Upper West Region have received sanitary pads to help keep them comfortable during their menstrual periods.

The girls who are beneficiaries of the Girls Participatory Approaches to Students’ Success (G-PASS) scholarship, also received other items such as school bags, school uniforms, pairs of canvass, supplementary readers, mathematical sets, note books, pens, pencils and rulers, to facilitate easy learning in school.

The scholarship which covers a period of three years for each student beginning from forms one to three, also included the payment of the registration and mock examination fees for beneficiaries.

Speaking at the presentation to some of the girls in Chebogo and Sinaa-Dindee JHSs , Madam Vida Polkuu, the Lambussie-Karni District Girl-Child Education Officer, said the items were provided by the UK Aid in partnership with the Ministry of Education, through the Global Partnership for Education in Ghana (G-PEG) programme.

She disclosed that the project was being implemented in 75 deprived districts in the country, with 10 of them from the Upper West Region, adding that the prime objective was to promote the enrollment and retention of the girl-child in school.

Explaining the criteria used for selecting the beneficiaries, Madam Polkuu said a beneficiary must be a girl enrolled in any of the JHSs in the district, and should either be an orphan, or must be taking care of herself or must come from a family under the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme.

“Any girl who drops out of school or gets pregnant or married out to a man would forfeit the scholarship,” she warned.
The Lambussie-Karni District Girl-Child Education Officer, said she was very optimistic that the items would have enormous impact on the academic performance of the girls, as they would now feel much more comfortable in school to learn.

At the Chebogo and Sinaa-Dindee JHS, there were 35 and 18 beneficiaries respectively.

Mr Bom Kofi Dy-yakah, the Lambussie-Karni District Chief Executive (DCE), thanked UK Aid, the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service for their commitment to supporting girls in deprived districts to improve on their academic performance.

He noted that every child, no matter the location, had equal right to quality education, and that government was committed to delivering that through its pro-poor education interventions, such as the school feeding, free school uniform and exercise books, as well as the capitation grant.

The DCE appealed to parents and teachers to help the girls to take care of the items provided them, in order for them to derive maximum benefit from them.

Mr Dy-yakah also encouraged the girls to take good care of the items and also take their studies seriously, to succeed in future.

A beneficiary, Settii Sakina, a form one girl at Chebogo JHS, could not hide her joy after receiving the items, and expressed her gratitude to all those who put efforts together to bring the items to them.

For the sanitary pad, she said, she had never used some before, adding that her mother would teach her how to use it, so she could feel more safe and comfortable during her periods.