With the advent of the internet and social media, young girls have been exposed to information about sex and relationships that by the time they reach puberty, they are already familiar with some advanced ideas.



However, talking about these issues has remained a critical role for parents and teachers in ensuring that girl children are aware of puberty and menstrual cycles.



The Gauteng Department of Social Development in partnership with Footprints Foundation has on Friday visited Unity Secondary School in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni to provide puberty education and to handover sanitary pads to more than 200 young girls.



The handover was part of the public-private “Help-A-Girl” campaign to mainly look after the girls, as they were previously disadvantaged and currently marginalised.



A research by the University of Cape Town has found that puberty education is key in helping to reduce school absenteeism.



It is for this reason that the girls were all fired up when they met their female mentors, including actresses from popular SABC 1 drama series “Skeem Saam”.



They provided education and guidance on health issues, particularly puberty hygiene, and how to take care of themselves.



Speaking on behalf of the Department, Deputy Director Youth Development Neli Sibisi thanked stakeholders particularly The Footprint Foundation and Nedbank Foundation for ensuring that the dignity of young girls is restored and that girls do not miss out of school because of unavailability of sanitary pads.



“When I was in high school there were no initiatives such as these, most of us used home-made pads which were never comfortable. So be thankful that the Gauteng Provincial Government and the private sector are doing all these initiatives for you so that you have the dignity that you deserve,” said Sibisi.



During the launch of this initiative in October 2017, MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza announced that this campaign will reach girls in 500 schools in the province over the next five years, and there has been massive progress thus far.