The South African National Roads Agency (SOC) Limited (SANRAL) ended Women’s Month by making sure no girl learner misses school due to menstruation.

The team from SANRAL’s Eastern Region recently visited Umthombo Secondary School in Howick, outside Pietermaritzburg, to donate sanitary towels, diaries and pens to female learners to commemorate Women’s Month.

Logashri Sewnarain, regional manager of SANRAL Eastern Region, addressed learners about the importance of education and the need for young women to adopt good hygiene habits.

“Being a girl can be somewhat challenging and we hear so much in the news about how some girls have to miss school once a month just because they do not have access to sanitary towels,” said Sewnarain.

“Education is vital and having to miss school from time to time because of a lack of basic resources such as sanitary towels is simply not acceptable.

“For this reason, SANRAL has committed to this most worthy cause and decided to contribute in a small but significant way.”

Bursary and scholarships

SANRAL’s Eastern Region human resource professional, Ntando Ngidi, had the complete attention of learners when she spoke about the scholarship and bursary programmes offered by the roads agency.

“We believe in investing in the education of young people and the scholarship and bursary programmes are designed to benefit learners who excel academically, particularly in the engineering field,” said Ngidi.

“The programme covers tuition fees, books and provides financial assistance throughout tertiary life. We also offer a five-year contract to work with us upon completion of your studies.”

Mazwakhe Mkhulisi, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education Howick circuit manager said: “What we are witnessing today is a remarkable act of kindness and we hope our learners will take full advantage of the scholarship and bursary opportunities they have been presented with today by the SANRAL team.”

In closing Thembinkosi Qwabe, principal at the school, was most grateful to SANRAL for taking time out of their busy schedules to address the learners.

“Thank you SANRAL for coming to speak to our girls and for the gifts packs. We hope our children have taken the advice offered to them today seriously and they will apply it accordingly.”