JOIN USChief Minister Jagadish Shettar announced, in the Assembly on Friday, the free supply of sanitary pads to over 33.5 lakh adolescent schoolgirls, mainly studying in government schools in the State.
The government has allotted Rs 41.06 crore for the purpose. Each schoolgirl will be given 13 sets of sanitary pads with six pads in each set this financial year.
The health and family welfare department, along with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), will be involved in the project of educating the schoolgirls about hygiene during menstrual cycle.
M Madan Gopal, principal secretary, health department said earlier, the programme of distributing sanitary pads to schoolgirls was conducted under the National Rural Health Mission for a year, using Zilla Panchayat funds.
There is also the Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health, a national programme under which there are Sneha centres located in the public health centres to educate girls.
“The fund allotted by the chief minister is mainly to educate schoolgirls about menstrual hygiene. SSA will provide us incinerators for safe disposal of sanitary pads,” he said.
SSA project director D Basavaraj said that they had proposed to instal incinerators inside girls’ toilets in government schools. “Each incinerator will cost around Rs 10,000 and the budget is yet to be worked out.