The Education ministry will once again control the distribution of free sanitary pads to school girls ultimately stripping off this power from women representatives.
The women representatives have in the last two years controlled the distribution under the National Government Affirmative Action Fund domiciled in the Gender ministry.
Sources from the Education ministry indicate that tendering, procurement and distribution of the pads will now be done under the Basic Education directorate headed by PS Belio Kipsang.
The programme that began in 2011 has been subject to controversy over the control of the sanitary towel distribution.
According to the State Department for Gender, in 2017-18, the Margaret Kobia-led ministry distributed 14,813,810 pads to adolescent girls.
At about Sh420 million, the pads benefited 3,703,452 girls. This means each girl received about four packets with a single packet costing the government about Sh28.
Of concern though, is that NGAAF has failed to competently distribute the towels.
This led to an outburst by Education CS George Magoha who in August chided the Gender ministry complaining some deserving schoolgirls were missing out on the commodity despite the government allocating millions to the programme.
In June, the Treasury requested Parliament to move the kitty to the Ministry of Education, claiming it had the better logistical capacity to distribute the towels.
Not enough
Under the project, the government provides four packets of sanitary towels to each girl every term.
With a school term running slightly over three months, this means the girls get an average of one packet each month.
In October, an upset Magoha admitted a lack of funds to provide sanitary towels to adolescent school girls as required by law.
He said the Sh470 million provided for the free sanitary pads programme can only supply the towels for four months.
"If you calculate the current allocation against a population of 1.4 million girls, then at best we can provide sanitary towels for only four months. What happens for the rest of the year?" Magoha asked.
The CS spoke in Nairobi when he flagged off sanitary towels for 800,000 girls to be used during the national examination period donated by the Mpesa Foundation.
Due to the limited funds, priority will be given to girls in hardship counties and low-income areas of Garissa, Wajir, Tana River, Lamu, Voi, Taita Taveta, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Samburu, Uasin Gishu, Baringo and West Pokot counties.
So too, Vihiga, Busia, Nyandarua and Nyeri will also be among the first counties to get the sanitary towels.
The President signed into law the Basic Education Amendment Act (2016) which places the responsibility of providing free, sufficient and quality sanitary towels on the government to reduce the number of girls missing school during their menstrual cycle.
This legal provision makes it an obligation for the government to provide the towels to every school-going girl who has reached puberty.
It also compels the government to provide a safe and environmentally sound mechanism for the disposal of sanitary towels.
Data from the Education ministry shows that a girl absent from school for four of 28 days loses 13 learning days.
This is equivalent to two weeks of learning in every school term.
In an academic year (nine months) a girl loses 39 learning days equivalent to six weeks of learning time.
"In some places, these pads once provided are no longer for the schoolgirl but the whole household. This is also a challenge in retaining girls in school," Magoha said.
Edited by R.Wamochie
