Tamil Nadu government to provide free sanitary napkins to women in urban areas under new scheme

According to a Government Order, the State examined the proposal of the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and sanctioned Rs 44.15 crore for the scheme.
Representational image
Representational image

CHENNAI: The State government will provide free sanitary napkins to government school girls in urban areas and women inpatients at government medical institutions under the menstrual hygiene programme. 
The scheme, which is being implemented in the rural areas far for about nine years, will now be extended to urban areas at a cost of Rs 44 crore. 

According to a Government Order, the State examined the proposal of the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and sanctioned Rs 44.15 crore for the scheme.  Officials said the State would procure sanitary napkins for girls in the 10-19 age group in urban areas at a cost of Rs 34.74 crore and for inpatients in the 15-49 age group at a cost of Rs 9.4 crore. 

“The napkins will be directly delivered to government schools and an acknowledgement obtained by urban health nurse,” officials told Express.  The urban health nurses will also go to the ICDS every Saturday along with Anganwadi workers and distribute the health kits to girls who are not part of government schools. Officials said the health nurses will also distribute the kits to postnatal mothers during home visits. 

The scheme is set to cover close to 1,000 health centres in the metro cities and several schools. The Central government programme was implement by former  Chief Minister J Jayaliathaa in 2011 and it covered several rural areas in the State benefiting thousands of people. 

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said the dignity kits contain hygiene and sanitary items apart from other items to cater to local needs of women and girls of reproductive age in particular communities. “This scheme is already under implementation in the rural areas and is now extended to the needy in the urban areas. This would ensure in providing a generic hygiene to the people in urban areas as well,” he told Express.

Workshop for qualified teachers in the digital space
Chennai: On behalf of the State Development Policy Council, a webinar, “Pedagogy and Qualified Teachers in the Digital Space/ Smart Teachers Classroom and Students Improving Knowledge,” was held on Wednesday.  It was aimed at identifying requirements for successful implementation of E-Pedagogy at schools and high technology for teachers to discover solutions to help students solve problems themselves.  Chairman of the council C Ponnaiyan spoke.
 

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