Beauty Queen advocates menstrual hygiene in Nigerian schools

Wealthy individuals, government agencies, charitable organisations and religious institutions have been urged to embark on aggressive advocacy campaigns in primary and secondary schools on menstrual hygiene and climate change.

Queen Solomon, the winner of the 2023 Miss Heritage International and Executive Director of Improved Child Education in Africa, gave the advice while distributing sanitary pads and writing materials to pupils of Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS) Apo Legislative Quarters on Wednesday in Abuja.

Ms Solomon said the aim of the event was to enable girls to have sound knowledge on how to live a better life, check outbreaks of diseases and prevent unwanted pregnancies.

The NGO boss said that most challenges facing girls in the society was how to manage themselves during the menstrual period.

She however, appealed to the government to always ensure functional infrastructure in all public schools to ensure proper hygiene for girls during their menstrual period.

She pledged to carry the campaign to all schools across the country to compliment the government’s effort at ensuring a clean environment and improving girl child education in the country.

“We are here today to educate students on menstrual hygiene. Girls need to understand that good hygiene is necessary and paramount.

“We will continue to advocate for this and ensure all the six geopolitical zones in FCT are reached,” she said.

Speaking, the Head Girl of the School, Rejoice Chukwuka-Charles, said that the campaign provided ample opportunity for girls in the school to ask questions on the best ways to manage themselves during the menstrual period.

She said, “Knowledge impacted on the girls will go a long way in encouraging and building a better future for the younger generation.

In her goodwill message, Rebecca Alaku, Chief Education Officer of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), said that the provision of writing materials and sanitary pads would encourage young girls and increase child enrollment in FCT schools.

Also, the Vice Principal of Administration of the school, Felicia Gyaube, expressed gratitude to the philanthropist for considering the school in her Pet Project.

Ms Gyaube called on parents not to shy away from their responsibility of educating their girls on the effective management of sanitary pads.

Ms Solomon represented Nigeria and won the 2024 Miss Heritage International in Bangkok in December last year.

The campaign also featured talks on the need to avoid violence especially fighting between students of different schools.

Over 3,000 exercise books, 500 sanitary pads and other instructional materials were given to the pupils.

She also planted economic trees in the school as part of her advocacy to address challenges of climate change in the country.

Ohaeri Osondu Joseph, Fnipr Fcai
Director, Media/Publicity