— donates $150,000 of baby care products to Education Ministry

By Vishani Ragobeer
ANSA McAL Trading Limited has donated $150,000 worth of newborn baby care products to the Ministry of Education to foster the Ministry’s programme of reintegrating young mothers into the school system.

Marketing Representative of the Consumer Goods Department at ANSA McAL, Joel Lee, noted on Monday that the company is pleased to render support to the Ministry of Education in an effort to “help in offsetting some expenses” of the young mothers, thus making it easier for the ministry to reintegrate them into the school system.

He noted that this assistance to the ministry is “something that is ongoing”, and as the ministry expands the programme and seeks to render assistance to more young women, the company would work alongside the ministry. Lee stated, “This is just the beginning.”

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Delma Nedd, noted that the ministry is pleased to receive assistance from the company, after “reaching out” to its officials. She said this donation would be part of the “care packages” the ministry, through its School Health, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS (SHN HIV/AIDS) Unit, would be giving to more young mothers.

The ministry, according to the Permanent Secretary, is seeking to collaborate with the Welfare Departments in schools, and with the young mothers to have them reintegrated into the school system, where they can be able to write the CSEC examinations to “equip (themselves) with the skills” to be employed and be marketable in the job environment.
SECOND CHANCE
She declared that the ministry is not promoting teenage pregnancy, but is simply looking to give those affected a “second chance”, and to show them that “there is hope.”

Janelle Sweatnam, SNH HIV/AIDS Unit Representative, noted that, in 2014, an initiative was started with the aim of supporting young women in the Education Department and reintegrating young mothers into the school system.

She noted that each targeted mother would be presented with a care package consisting of tissues, diapers and wipes, compliments of ANSA McAL, besides other baby care products such as clothing, powder, oil, towels, swabs, body wash and feeding utensils, all procured by the Ministry of Education.

In the past year, although this programme was recently started, 17 young women from Region 4 (including Georgetown) and 14 from Region 10 were reintegrated into the school system under the ministry’s programme.

The ministry is now looking to expand this programme to all other regions, especially hinterland areas, where there are many cases of teenage pregnancy. More than 100 young expecting mothers have been beneficiaries of these care packages over the past year.