Former nominated senator Millicent Omanga swapped her usual attire for a school uniform on Monday as she joined hundreds of pupils at Kangemi Primary School in Nairobi for a menstrual hygiene awareness campaign.
Dressed in a pink checked school dress with a white collar, Omanga spent the morning interacting with learners, teachers and school staff, posing for photos with pupils and distributing sanitary products to schoolgirls during the visit.
Photos shared on her social media pages showed Omanga surrounded by cheering girls in school uniform, many holding sanitary towel packages after the distribution exercise.
The visit later shifted indoors, where Omanga met teachers and school administrators before addressing learners during a school assembly.
Sharing highlights of the visit, Omanga said the programme focused on menstrual hygiene and ensuring girls remain in school with dignity and confidence.
"Today was about menstrual hygiene for our girls at Kangemi Primary School, a school with nearly 5,000 learners. Every girl deserves dignity, confidence, and the support to stay in school," she said.
Beyond the distribution of sanitary products, Omanga said the visit exposed challenges facing both teachers and learners because of inadequate school infrastructure.
She said she found schools where teachers lacked desks in staff rooms and were forced to alternate between sitting and standing while working.
"In far too many schools, our teachers have no desks in the staff room and take turns sitting or standing," Omanga said.
She also raised concerns over inadequate sanitation facilities, saying some schools have no toilets for teachers, while others have about 60 teachers sharing a single toilet.
According to Omanga, the situation is equally challenging for learners, with some schools having as many as 100 pupils sharing one toilet.
"We cannot talk about quality education while ignoring the conditions under which our children learn, and our teachers work," she said.
Omanga said the conditions she observed at Kangemi Primary reflected challenges she has encountered during visits to other schools.
"This is a concern I've witnessed in many schools. It is time we treated school infrastructure with the urgency it deserves. Our children and our teachers deserve better," she said.
The visit combined a menstrual hygiene outreach programme with engagements involving teachers and school administrators, where Omanga also discussed learning conditions and infrastructure needs.
Her decision to wear a school uniform throughout the event became one of the morning talking points online, with the images circulating widely across social media as she interacted with pupils and participated in the activities.
