Mavoko sub-county District Children Officer Faith Kamau has said that majority of female children from the sub-county are more vulnerable than in other parts of the country due to abject poverty among their families.
Officer Kamau disclosed that averagely 80% of the children hail from families that can hardly afford three meals in a day.
"The girl child from Mavoko sub-county is more vulnerable than that from other parts of this nation since levels of poverty among their families is incredible," said Kamau.
Kamau who addressed the press in her office on Friday, said that majority of the families live below a dollar a day, a situation that she says deny girl child her fundamental rights such as that of compulsory basic education.
She said the families were not able to provide girl child with the basic and necessary needs such as sanitary towels and inner wears as they saw them as secondary needs.
"Such families are so poor that they only concentrate on looking for food for their children forgetting that those children too needed sanitary towels and inner wears. The families claim they cannot afford the items arguing that they were tertiary needs,” said Kamau.
The officer said there were reported cases in her office that a number of female children had dropped out of schools due to lack of such important items.
According to her, some children go to school without pants while other parents, more so single mothers, improvised sanitary towels for their daughters using pieces of used clothes and mattresses.
She said the ministry of education should work on a model that would ensure girl child from needy and humble backgrounds were freely provided with the items to go through their basic education successfully.
Kamau noted that female children who were undergoing the challenge were more prone to sexual harassment by child molesters who take advantage of their situation, thereby luring them to illicit sex.
She called on all stakeholders including Non-Governmental Organisations, Educational institutions, county governments, local leaderships, corporate organisation and parents from the region to join hands and support the children through donations of sanitary pads and inner wears as a way of supporting their basic education.