AP govt to distribute sanitary napkins to over 10 lakh adolescent school girls

NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday announced that his government will be providing free sanitary napkins to over 10 lakh adolescent girls studying in government schools and colleges.

He made the announcement while launching the Swechha programme aimed at the health and hygiene of adolescent girls.

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During the launch, the chief minister quoting reports, said almost 23 per cent of the young girls in this country are staying away from attending schools and colleges during menstruation. In its efforts to change these circumstances, the State government has been taking measures right from improving toilets in all government institutions under the Nadu-Nedu initiative to bringing the Swechha programme, a PTI report said.

He said under this initiative awareness programmes will be organized on menstruation for the students studying between class 7-12, once every month by women teachers, ANMs and women police.

Besides, awareness on Disha App and Disha Act will also be given by the women police, and joint collector (Aasara) will be monitoring the orientation programmes while a women teacher will be appointed as a nodal officer, according to an official release.

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"The State government will be providing quality sanitary napkins to over 10 lakh students studying between 7-12 classes at a cost of Rs 32 crore, where each student will be receiving 120 napkins every year," it said. The students will also be taught on proper disposal of sanitary pads, where separate dustbins and 6,417 incinerators have been provided under Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) programme.

Reddy said the government initiated Nadu-Nedu and revamped all the toilets in 56,703 schools and hostels by constructing them with running water facilities. In the first phase, 15,715 schools have been renovated and all the remaining schools will be completed by 2023. Later, during the event, the Chief Minister released a poster on the Swechha programme.

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