COIMBATORE: As part of its effort to spread awareness on the importance of inner wear and menstrual hygiene, ARAM Foundation will provide inner wear to more than 6,000 underprivileged girls across Coimbatore.

According to Latha Sundaram, Managing Trustee of the Foundation, the project will be executed from August 5 to 10. “The Foundation will provide inner garments for girl students of various Corporation Schools and Government Schools in and around Coimbatore. The Foundation members will also educate the students on physical hygiene, especially during menstrual time,” she said.

Founded in 2012 with an aim to improve the quality of life of the common man, ARAM Foundation focusses mainly on children “as we believe they are the rising Sun and backbone of the society. Cultivating proper knowledge in them will result in a change,” she said.

“I had a very happy childhood. Thanks to my parents and teachers, all my dreams have come true. It was then I realised that not everyone has been blessed with the same. That’s when I decided to give children a happy childhood,” Latha added.

At one point she found that many girls from the weaker section were clueless about menstrual hygiene, with many of them not even using inner wear.

“One of the main reasons was they could not afford it. And also they were unaware of its importance. Unfortunately they did not know much about hygiene, especially during menstruation. They didn’t know how to use and dispose sanitary pads. We advised them to use sanitary napkins and maintain cleanliness. In spite of all this, several women and girls still use cloths. This can lead to infections, which the don’t realise,” Latha added.

According to her 20 per cent of girls (studying in high school) don’t use inner wear at all. “If they don’t know how to take care of themselves, then what is the point of education,” Latha said.

“The Government is providing uniforms, footwear and textbooks to students. We decided to start this campaign, to educate the girls and make them feel proud of their woman hood,” she added.

The Foundation will conduct also conduct awareness on pre-menstrual issues too. “Many of them get headache and go through a kind of depression during that time. They don’t realise that it is due to their menstruation cycle. Many girls skip school as they fear ridicule. They also get scared of being married off. Our aim is to create awareness and make them confident and proud to be a woman.”

Currently ARAM foundation has undertaken over 12 major projects in 90 schools. They teach life skills, self defence and other essential skills to the children that would help them get jobs after completing school.