UNICEF engages school girls on menstrual hygiene education

The United Nations International Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Girl Child Network and other partners has held a Menstrual awareness panel discussion on Thursday 26 May at the Saphyre Court, Kignharma Road in Freetown to educate young boys, Men, teenage girls, and Women on the importance of Menstrual Hygiene and the stigmatization women and girls go through as a result of the ridicules they get from the society at large and the theme this year celebration is “Make Menstrual A Normal Fact of Life”.

World Menstrual Day is celebrated every year on 28 May 2022 in order to support women. In her opening statement, the Deputy Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Emily Gogra, said as a Ministry that practices radical inclusion in encouraging girls to stay in school after menstruation long ago, girls were afraid to go to school and as they are scared and ashamed and those girls should go to school during their Menstrual phase with dignity using the menstrual facts. She continued that there have been cases wherein, girls had over the years stopped schooling due to the shame and stigma that comes when they are on their Menstrual Flow. She disclosed that was also a time of warning to girls as their menstruation is a time for girls wherein their senses become developed along with their physical appearance and some of these changes leads to unwanted pregnancy if proper training and educative advice is not given and encouraged girls to keep their integrity.

The Country Director, Girl Child Network Sierra Leone, Anita Koroma, thanked UNICEF for such an educative, informative and interactive platform where girls, boys, men and women get to share their
opinions and express their feelings about menstruation. She said the Girl Child Network not long ago engaged in a nationwide campaign but little effort or importance was given to it as so many people considered talking about it a taboo. But said women and girl especially young girls need to speak about it, as these feelings silences them from making impactful contributions in society due to stigma.

Madam Suma Sachedra Education, Specialist from UNICEF, said the platform was to encourage young
girls from their silence and trauma that they go through and to encourage them to speak up and also
teach them the importance of Menstrual Hygiene as she said girls go through ridicule from boys who
laugh at them when unexpectedly they start to see their Menstruation and that this affects the girl child
mentally and emotionally. She warned the girls to abstain from early sex as earlier sex affects their education. “This is the time of warning, I want to talk to the girls, this is the time of warning, know that as soon as you start your menstruation it is time in which your senses develop, and then just after that a week or two you will get pregnant. So know that as soon as you start there is a room for you to get pregnant. But do you want to get pregnant when you are in school? No. Although the radical inclusion policy is there, you have to keep your integrity.

A school girl from the Goderich Comprehensive Secondary School, Alice Mansaray, expressed gratitude
to the UNICEF and thanked them for giving her the platform to share her experience she encountered
the very first day she saw her menstrual cycle in school, adding that she was ashamed and that she did
not even know what to do at the time but with help of her teacher who took her to her office and later
cleaned her up. She said most of her colleagues faced challenges like water, trauma and stigmatization
in school.

By Mohamed Amara Gando