The Tema Metropolitan Education Directorate has appealed to institutions and individuals to support the Tema Manhean Anglican 'B' Basic School with a washroom facility.

Madam Agatha Adrah, Tema Metropolitan Education School (SHEP) Coordinator who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema said all public basic schools and secondary schools in Tema with the exception of the Manhean Anglican B school had befitting washrooms.

The interview was during the commemoration of the 2021 World Menstrual Hygiene Day which was on the theme: “More Action and Investment in Menstrual Health and Hygiene Now”.

She said the lack of a washroom for the school could prevent menstruating girls from attending school as there would be no place for them to change.

She said a research conducted by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in basic schools found that in Ghana nine out of 10 girls sometimes missed school during their menses.

She added that the research also indicated that one out of four public schools do not have access to sanitation facilities where girls menstruating could have space and privacy to change.

In commemorating the day, sick bays in secondary schools in the Tema Metropolis organized various activities to sensitize students and stakeholders on the need to practise good menstrual hygiene.

The menstrual hygiene day is a global platform that brings together non-for-profit organizations, government agencies, individuals, private sectors and the media in advocating the importance of good menstrual hygiene management.

At the Tema Presbyterian Senior High School, a male student, Master Nicholas Nyarko through a discussion and picture demonstration explained menstruation as the monthly flow of blood from the private part of an adolescent girl or a pre-menopausal woman.

Master Nyarko added that to ensure a good menstrual hygiene management, adolescent girls must have access to sanitary materials like sanitary pads, reusable napkins and tampons and urged adolescent girls to feel free to talk to their friends and relatives including boys and brothers for support during their menses.

He also appealed to government to subsidize the price of sanitary pad and remove the 20 per cent tax on it to make affordable for all, while urging parents to make it a must to provide sanitary materials for their adolescent girls.

Ms Priscilla Dravie. a female student demonstrated to the students the correct way to fix a sanitary pad into their panties and encouraged her mates to bath properly during menstruation, and also dispose the used pads properly.