The Tripura government will provide free sanitary napkins to school girls in the state in an attempt to promote menstrual hygiene.
The girl students will receive the sanitary napkins under the ‘Kishori Suchita Abhiyan’ scheme.
This project will initially be implemented for three years at a cost of Rs 3.61 crores.
Tripura education minister Ratan Lal Nath said the new scheme will benefit 1,68,252 girl students of classes VI to XII in both government and private schools.
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The government will spend Rs 60,57,072 to implement the scheme during the current financial year.
Ratanlal Nath said, “During the budget session, our government promised to provide free sanitary napkins to schoolgirls to enhance menstrual hygiene. Today the cabinet has approved it.”
He said that a packet of sanitary napkins in the open market costs a minimum of Rs 28-35 and many poor girls cannot afford it.
Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers purchase a packet of sanitary napkins from the Tripura National Health Mission (NHM) at Rs 5 per packet and then sell it to women at Rs 6.
The state government also plans to purchase such packets from the Tripura NHM.