Group task teachers to guide students through life

Group task teachers to guide students through life
By Ummul Idris
Guidance
Abuja, May 28, 2018 (NAN) Girls and Youth Re-integration Network (GYRIN), an NGO, has called on school teachers to guide their students through physical and emotional stages of their transition to adulthood.
Miss Kehinde Awujoola, Founder of the NGO, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja in commemoration of the 2018 World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
According to her, schools should not only give priority to intellectual teaching but should also guide students by providing them with menstrual hygiene related education and devices.
She also urged schools to provide the girl child with skills needed to manage their personal and social development.
Awujoola enjoined teachers to help ensure that students are equipped to understand and manage these changes before they have to confront them.
She observed that for too long many schools remain silence on the issue of menstruation and menstrual hygiene management was becoming distressing experience for many young girls.
The founder of the NGO noted that lack of proper guidance was negatively affecting their educational attendance and performance.
“Most girls receive no information about menstruation before menarche and the majority cannot discuss it at home.
“Many teachers feel they are not prepared or it is not necessary to address the issue even though it is suppose to be part of the curriculum.
“Most schools don’t have adequate clean latrines providing privacy and water, where girls can change menstrual wears and wash.
“Some girls feel miserable attending school during menstruation and is undermining their educational attainment.
“That is because some girls generally use a combination of whatever materials they have at hand, which are often unhygienic, resulting in humiliating leaks, discomfort and infections,’’ she said.
She also called on government to make available and appropriate hygienic sanitary wears for the girls in schools.
Awujoola said that even though the teachers are also affected by the absence of suitable facilities in school, they should try and educate the girl child on the importance of hygiene during menstruation. (NAN)
UMD/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola