Free sanitary pad program to end obstacle to girl-child education – Mahama

President John Mahama says his government’s newly launched National Sanitary Pad Distribution Program will  remove the powerful barrier to girl-child education in Ghana.

The president, who launched the launched the social intervention program in Accra on Thursday, said female students would not have to absent themselves from school as a result of lacking sanitary pads.

President Mahama said female students who were unable to afford the pads stayed away from school for fear of soiling themselves or becoming a “laughingstock of their peers”.

He said the least government could do do help the girl child was to support them with whatever they needed “to be able to go through it with dignity and with hygiene”.

The president said the policy was aimed at bringing hope to girl-child education in Ghana.

“It should not be a barrier to education or self-achievement. And that is why this program exists to remove one of the silent yet powerful obstacles standing in the way of our girl-child dreams. We are acting today to restore hope.

“Hope to the girls who thought they had to sit out for several days every month. Hope to parents who worried about how to provide these essential products to their daughters and hope to a nation that wants every child to rise regardless of their background or their gender,” the head of state said.