Setting our priorities right
The nation is at it again, split over the use of an International Development Agency (IDA) loan to procure sanitary pads for students in senior high schools (SHSs).
As is standard practice in the august house of Parliament, the Majority had its way, while the Minority had its say, over the $156 million loan facility to finance the Ghana Secondary School Education Improvement Project.
At a time when the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has not been able to fund infrastructural activities in our schools, the loan from IDA will go a long way to update facilities in our schools. It is a laudable idea, but in our humble view not for the purchase of sanitary pads.
It must be stated that although the government spends the biggest percentage of its budget on education, the financial support is not able to cater for the needs of the sector.
That is why, no matter the situation, the government will seek donor assistance to fix the challenges in the economy, including the educational sector which is the key driver of development activities in any economy.
But the adversarial politics once again reared its head when the divide in the House last Wednesday debated the IDA loan in relation to the portion to be used to purchase house dresses, uniforms and PE kits, sanitary pads, schoolbags and shoes, as well as pay the school and examination fees and provide transport to school.
The Minister of Education, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, last Wednesday defended the use of the part of the money to procure sanitary pads for female students in deprived SHSs, explaining that supplying of pads to such girls was critical because some of the girls were forced to stay away from school “during that time of the month and we think that is unacceptable”.
But the Minority disagreed and described the move as unacceptable.
The Daily Graphic has issues with the use of donor money to buy sanitary pads, schoolbags, shoes, among other needs, for children in deprived schools.
In the first place, we ask whether the government has put in place the mechanism for the sustenance of the scheme after the end of the project.
Secondly, we dare ask whether the state is taking over the role of parenting because responsible parents, no matter their status in society, must provide the basic needs of their children or wards.
The Daily Graphic has no beef with the authorities deciding to set aside a portion of internally generated funds to support people in deprived communities, such as the research has established, but we say a big no to contracting loans for such an initiative that commits generations yet unborn to avoidable debts.
It is a sad commentary that a normal government initiative to improve school infrastructure has received negative press because of the decision to buy sanitary pads for schoolchildren.
Well intended as established by the findings, but a misplaced priority, particularly when the female students to benefit from the scheme lack basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing.
However, efforts at lifting the standard of living of those deprived and vulnerable girls should not be done by donors but through our own initiatives as an independent country that chalked up its 54th Republican status last Tuesday.
The project to update infrastructure in our SHSs is a very progressive step but the component relating to the procurement of sanitary pads can be misplaced and requires a review, so that the allocation for it can be used to provide more infrastructure and teaching aids.
