Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday launched the 'Swechha' programme aimed at the health and hygiene of adolescent girls studying in government schools and colleges by providing quality sanitary napkins at free of cost.
During the launch, the Chief Minister quoting reports, said almost 23 per cent of the young girls in this country are staying away from attending schools and colleges during menstruation and to change these circumstances, the State government has been taking measures right from improving toilets in all government institutions under the Nadu-Nedu initiative to bringing the Swechha programme.
He said under this initiative awareness on menstruation will be created for the students studying between class 7-12, once every month by women teachers, ANMS and women police. Awareness on Disha App and Disha Act will also be given by the women police and Joint Collector (Aasara) will be monitoring the orientation programmes while a women teacher will be appointed as a nodal officer, according to an official release.
"The State government will be providing quality sanitary napkins to over 10 lakh students studying between 7-12 classes at a cost of Rs 32 crore, where each student will be receiving 120 napkins every year," it said.
The students will also be taught on proper disposal of sanitary pads, where separate dustbins and 6,417 incinerators have been provided under Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) programme. Reddy said the government initiated Nadu-Nedu and revamping all the toilets in 56,703 schools and hostels by constructing them with running water facilities. In the first phase, 15,715 schools have been renovated and all the remaining schools will be completed by 2023. Later, during the event, the Chief Minister released a poster on Swechha programme.
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