In another pathbreaking move by initiated by Kerala government, girls will soon have access to free sanitary napkins in their schools under the ‘She Pad’ scheme.
Launched on Wednesday, the scheme will be implemented in 300 schools across 114 panchayats in Kerala and aims at ensuring menstrual hygiene amongst girls.
Through a Facebook post, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan explained that the scheme would benefit girl children of classes VI to XII.
Aimed at ensuring 'menstrual hygiene' among girls, She Pad scheme starts today. The scheme will benefit girl children of…
Posted by Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, 7 November 2017
The scheme will facilitate free sanitary napkins, storage spaces for napkins and environment-friendly incinerators at all government & aided schools in the state.
“Menstrual hygiene is every girl’s right. The scope of the scheme is not limited to the distribution of sanitary napkins. She Pad scheme aims to raise awareness about the need for menstrual hygiene. It also strives to break the taboo around the subject by helping girls to break free from the beliefs of impurity attached to it,” he added.
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The responsibility of implementation has been delegated to Women’s Development Corporation in collaboration with the local government bodies. In future, it will be expanded to all schools in the State.
While this year’s plan includes 300 schools, the state government intends to expand the schemes to all the schools across Kerala by next year.
“I am hopeful that women-friendly initiatives like these will help our girls to lead a life of confidence,” Pinarayi Vijayan added.