A small step for school districts in Greater Victoria makes big strides in changing the way female students access menstrual products.
Rob Fleming, minister of education, announced Thursday that schools will now have baskets containing menstrual products in all female washrooms in secondary and middle schools, along with some bathrooms in elementary schools.
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Greater Victoria school districts always had menstrual products available for students in school offices, but asking students to go to the office can make them uncomfortable, along with missing valuable class time that male students would not miss. Supplies will continue to be made available at school offices along with the baskets.
“With all 60 school districts taking action and providing stigma-free access to menstrual products in school washrooms, we are making real changes in the lives of our students,” said Fleming.
READ ALSO: Province offers grants for free tampons, pads to ease ‘period poverty’ in B.C.
Fleming issued a ministerial order in April requiring all B.C. public schools to provide stigma-free access to free menstrual products for students in school washrooms. A number of districts have already made these products available to students well ahead of the start of this school year.
It is up to individual school districts to determine how they will make menstrual products available to students, so long as they are free and available in washrooms by the end of 2019. For example, some districts are implementing baskets, while others plan to install dispensers.
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