Rotorua principals welcome Govt plan to provide free period products to schools

The Government will offer free menstrual products to all schools come June. Photo / File

Supplying free period products in schools "should have happened years ago" and will go a long way to reducing the shame and increased absences associated with period poverty, a Rotorua principal says.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti announced yesterday that from June, all primary, intermediate and secondary school and kura students would have access to free period products.

The announcement follows a successful Access to Period Products pilot programme, which has been running since Term 3 last year in 15 schools and kura in the Waikato region.

"Young people should not miss out on their education because of something that is a normal part of life for half the population," Ardern said.

"Removing barriers to healthy, active, educational outcomes for children and young people is an important part of the Government's Youth and Wellbeing Strategy."

Ardern said feedback from students was that period products should be made available for all who needed them when they needed them.

"The positive response from schools and students to the pilot has encouraged us to expand the initiative to all New Zealand schools and kura."

About 3200 young people were provided with period products during the pilot.

Rotorua Girls' High School principal Sarah Davis. Photo / File

Rotorua Girls' High School principal Sarah Davis said KidsCan had already been providing the school with period products prior to the announcement.

"We don't want there to be any barriers to a student attending school so an initiative that will help remove some of those barriers is greatly supported and welcomed.

"There is a real need to address and, before the Government's announcement, we were managing that need with the help of KidsCan

"Free period products in all schools will go a long way to helping those who need it feel safe and supported with their health and wellness."

Western Heights Primary School principal Brent Griffin. Photo / File

Western Heights Primary School principal Brent Griffin said it was a "fantastic initiative" and one that, in his opinion, should have been rolled out years ago.

"Period poverty has been completely overlooked in the past but, up until now, the price of sanitary products has been a real deterrent for low socio-economic families.

"At a primary-school age, many students are not prepared mentally or emotionally so being able to supply them with these products when the time comes will be a godsend.

"[Menstruation] is a natural process so this initiative will also help to normalise it and ensure no young person feels like they are the only one going through it."

Rotorua Intermediate School principal Garry de Thierry. Photo / File

Rotorua Intermediate School principal Garry de Thierry said having supplies on hand would "take the pressure off".

He said period poverty could have an impact on attendance and resulted in stigma and shame when "accidents" happened at school.

"We have been providing these products with school funding as we identified it as a need and it was always far better to have those supplies when needed than not."

KidsCan has been providing free period products to schools since 2015 and chief executive Julie Chapman says Covid-19 has seen more families than ever forced to choose between buying period products or food.

"Period inequity is creating huge anxiety in our already vulnerable young girls. It is a barrier to an education they desperately need to get out of poverty.

"In New Zealand no one should be missing school because they don't have period products. It is a basic human right."

KidsCan's programme reaches more than a third of public schools in New Zealand and last year distributed more than 130,000 packs of products to students across the country.

Tinetti said issues with periods at school included embarrassment, stigma, missing classes, being "caught out" without product, cost, lack of knowledge and discomfort.

"The free period products in schools initiative is the latest in a series of Government programmes to reduce barriers to education for all students and their whānau."

The Ministry of Education will work with suppliers to manage a phased rollout of the scheme, with period products available towards the end of Term 2 for schools and kura that opt in by March of this year.

Those schools and kura that do not initially choose to take up the initiative will continue to be able to opt in to the initiative at a later date.