|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The chairperson of the National Youth Council of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bernice Cudjoe, has renewed calls for the government to abolish taxes on sanitary pads to make them more affordable for vulnerable girls and women across the country.
Cudjoe made the appeal during a donation of sanitary pads to five basic schools in the Volta Region on Wednesday (16 October).
She highlighted the financial burden the high cost of sanitary products places on parents, affecting the education of adolescent girls.
“We realised that sanitary pads have become a bit expensive and with most students in these regions,” she said.
“Whenever it’s that time of the month, they find it difficult to be in school because they cannot afford the pads so they tend to stay away from school and everything.”
“So we have decided as an initiative to share sanitary pads to our sisters or the girl child in these five schools in the Volta Region and we hope that going forward we could do same in the other regions.”
The donation, part of a campaign to ease the financial pressure on parents, was conducted in commemoration of International Youth Day, which was observed in August.
The TUC held its congress in August but marked the day in the Volta Region on 16 October with the distribution of 1,208 sanitary pads to 308 girls across five schools:
AME Zion JHS, Ho Bankoe RC Girls, Ho Anglican JHS, The Grace Salvation Army School Complex, and Nuriya Islamic Basic School. Each girl received five packs of sanitary pads.
Speaking on the impact of the donations, a student from AME Zion Basic School, Humali Sussy, explained how access to pads affects concentration in class:
“During our menses, if we don’t wear pads, we don’t sit comfortably in class and sometimes even the pads we wear don’t serve us well, so our minds are on, ‘how are we going to make sure that we don’t soil our uniforms?’”
“And whenever we are not wearing pads, we go home early and that makes us lose the rest of the lessons. These pads are going to help us a lot as students.”
Tsewu Bernice, a school-based facilitator at Ho Anglican JHS, added: “When the girls menstruate, they remain at home for the number of days they menstruate before they come back to school.”
“So the donation will help them to remain in school for the few months that they have these pads so that they can learn; we are very grateful.”
Stephen Gordor, headteacher of Grace Salvation Army Basic School, echoed this sentiment, saying:
“The donation of the sanitary towels has a ripple effect on the ability of the learners to study.”
“A lot of them stay away from school until their period is over but this will go a long way to give them the comfort and confidence to still be among their peers. We assure you that they will use it as it is expected.”
The call for tax removal on sanitary pads has been a recurring issue in Ghana, with advocates arguing that it would reduce period poverty and support girls’ education.
Reporting by Albert Kuzor in the Volta Region
Asaase Broadcasting Company airs on Asaase 99.5 Accra, Asaase 98.5 Kumasi, Asaase 99.7 Tamale, Asaase 100.3 Cape Coast, AsaasePa 107.3 (Accra).
Affiliates: Bawku FM 101.5, Bead FM 99.9 (Bimbilla), Mining City Radio 89.5 (Tarkwa), Nandom FM 101.9, Nyatefe Radio 94.5 (Dzodze), Sissala Radio 96.3 (Tumu), Somuaa FM 89.9 (Gushegu), Stone City 90.7 (Ho) and Wale FM 106.9 (Walewale).
Listen online: asaaseradio.com, Sound Garden and TuneIn.
Follow us:
X: @asaaseradio995, @Asaase985ksi, @Asaase997tamale, @asaase1003, asaasepa1073
Instagram: asaaseradio99.5, asaase985ksi, asaase100.3, asaase99.7tamale, asaasepa107.3
LinkedIn: company/asaaseradio995. TikTok: @asaaseradio99.5
Facebook: asaase99.5, asaase985ksi, Asaase100.3, asaase99.7, AsaasePa107.3.
YouTube: AsaaseRadioXtra.
Join the conversation. Accra: call 020 000 9951/054 888 8995, WhatsApp 020 000 0995. Kumasi: call 059 415 7985 or call/WhatsApp 020 631 5260. Tamale: call/WhatsApp/SMS 053 554 6468. Cape Coast: call/WhatsApp 059 388 2652.
#AsaaseRadio
#AsaasePa
#TheVoiceofOurLand
