(Yicai) Oct. 12 -- Kao China, the Chinese branch of Japanese chemicals and cosmetics giant Kao, will take its ‘Flower Blossom’ menarche education program to 1,000 schools over the next five years, planning to train 1,000 teachers and reach 100,000 adolescent girls.

More than half of girls felt scared or panicked at their first period, and some even thought they were ill, Wang Dan, director of corporate communications and sustainability at Kao China and one of the initiators of the ‘Flower Blossoms’ program, said at an event in Shanghai on International Day of the Girl Child yesterday.

School sex education courses are offered inconsistently, and parents are often too embarrassed to discuss the subject, leaving girls to piece together answers from the internet and their peers, Wang noted, adding that the situation gets worse in rural and remote areas.

Launched in 2016 and run by Kao China and its feminine care brand Laurier, ‘Flower Blossom’ has so far reached more than 500 schools in 13 provinces and municipalities across China, benefiting over 80,000 children. In addition to free sanitary pads and lectures, it also provides schools with a complete set of course materials through community support and regular updates, allowing trained Supporting Educator Effectiveness through Development teachers to continue teaching.

The ‘Flower Blossom’ curriculum has expanded from menstrual health to psychological resilience, emotional management, and self-protection through the years.

In rural schools in Anxin county in Xiong'an New Area, Hebei province, chapters on body awareness in physiology and hygiene classes are often skipped, said Zhang Rui, a second-level staff member at the county's education bureau. "Of all the teacher training we do, what we miss is sex education," she said. Anxin plans to use ‘Flower Blossom’ to train local SEED teachers.

The media should not only spread charity ideas and connect resources but also advance public issues and help put charitable action into practice, said Shi Yuting, Yicai’s trade union chair.

Kao released its environmental, social, and governance strategy in 2019. On the environmental front, the company aims to use solely green energy by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality in production and operations by 2040, according to Kao China’s Chairman Masaru Takeyasu. It has already introduced solar power systems at its production bases on a large scale.

Editor: Futura Costaglione