Education officials are concerned that the lack of sanitary pads has continued to push girls out of schools in rural areas.
Santa Ateng, a senior education officer at the Ministry of Education and sports says that although the government has relieved parents from paying school fees following the introduction of both Universal Primary and Secondary Education, many have failed to provide menstrual hygiene products for their children.
“The parents don’t budget for it or they don’t care if it is necessary. So this girl ends up missing school because she can’t be in school when she is on her period. So to me, the parents have not yet given adequate support to enable the girl child to be in school,” Ateng said.
She made the remarks while recognizing students who participated in the United Bank of Africa –Uganda annual essay competition where the majority of the winners in the competition were girls.
According to the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) 2020 sector performance report, the use of safely managed sanitation in rural areas remains at a low 7.1% and in urban areas at 38.9%. This affects girls without menstrual pads.
