The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Ebonyi Government collaborated to improve the knowledge, attitude and practice of good menstrual hygiene and health management among adolescent girls in schools.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the collaboration was on a one-year health education project, in partnership with the Perking University, China.
Mrs Patience Ogodo, the Executive Chairperson of Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board (EBS-UBEB), said that
the project, tagged “Promoting School Health Education for Girls in the COVID-19 Era” was apt.
Ogodo made the remark during the Close-Out Ceremony of the project in Abakaliki on Wednesday.
She said the project was aimed at strengthening advocacy, multisectoral coordination, and response for adolescent girls to improve access to inclusive quality education and school health and knowledge management.
She added that the project was also to improve access to sexual and reproductive health issues to in-school adolescent girls.
“It is to strengthen the capacity of schools to prevent and respond to school-related Gender-Based Violence (GBV) too,” she said.
She, therefore, thanked UNESCO and China’s Perking University for funding the project.
Mr Oladeji Adeyemi, the National Project Officer of UNESCO, commended Ebonyi Goverment for creating an enabling environment at ensuring that the project succeeded.
Adeyemi said “UNESCO and Perking University have come to enlighten and educate the girls on their general well-being and other related issues like GBV.
“After COVID-19, many girls were not able to go back to school due to challenges such as increased GBV incidences, teenage pregnancy and other abuses, but
this project made it possible for them to return to school.
“So, that’s why we are using this project as a tool to enlighten adolescent girls, and to reduce the impact of COVID-19.”
Mrs Grace Ugboma, the Programme Manager of the project, explained that teachers and some stakeholders in various schools across Ebonyi local government areas have been trained on family life and HIV education.
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According to Ugboma, more than 1,354 teachers benefitted from the project.
Victoria Agboti, a schoolgirl from the Holy Child Junior Secondary School, Afikpo, said she was grateful to UNESCO and Perking University, China and UBEB for putting up the project.
Agboti said the project had helped her to understand her body better as an adolescent girl. (NAN)
