By Sofia Nasir
SHAH ALAM, Jan 5 — The Selangor Menteri Besar (Incorporated) or MBI will run a period poverty programme for underprivileged students (B40) starting this March.
Its Corporate Social Responsibility head Ahmad Azri Zainal Nor said the programme’s pilot project will be implemented in five to 10 selected secondary schools around Gombak and Kuala Selangor.
“This is the first time we are doing this programme. We will select students through the Selangor People’s Tuition Programme (PTRS) data that we have.
“So, PTRS will have new added value because it would not just be about providing education, but also other welfare matters,” he said to Selangorkini.
Ahmad Azri added that the students selected in the pilot project will be given a card that can be used at the vending machine to get free sanitary pads.
He said the reason for using the card is to know the usage rate for the purpose of data analysis, in addition to avoiding waste.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari previously said that Selangor has become the first state to introduce the initiative of giving sanitary pads for free in addition to holding awareness campaigns to deal with period poverty.
He said the effort focuses on the B40 group, students and the urban poor with a fund of RM200,000.
