WAO president Yee Pek Mei said the programme aims to coach and educate 16-year-olds from low-income communities on self-love, health, relationships and community building.

WAO executive director Sumitra Visvanathan said through the medium of sports, they also intended to educate the girls on self-esteem, sexual health and reproductive rights.

“The programme will begin with 40 to 50 inner-city girls from the B40 community,” she said at the International Girls Day celebration today.

Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh, who attended, said the government is working to break the glass ceiling and the limitations imposed on women in the work force.

She praised the WAO initiative to guide young girls growing up in the city.