THE Education Minister is to seek executive approval to provide free period products to all schools in the North of Ireland.
Peter Weir is expected to bring a paper on ‘period poverty’ to the executive meeting on Thursday.
It is understood that, if approved, the scheme would be in place for September 2021.
The governments in England, Scotland and Wales already run schemes to provide free period products for schools.
Scotland recently went further, making products like tampons and sanitary pads available free to anyone who needs them.
However, there is currently no North of Ireland-wide scheme to provide girls with access to sanitary products in schools.
Instead, initiative likes the Red Box Project provide products to individual schools.
There are also schools which run their own schemes based on donations from pupils, staff and parents.
Other organisations, like the Homeless Period, have called for free sanitary products in schools, while MLAs on Stormont’s education committee have also expressed support for the move.
There is concern that some girls miss days at school because they cannot afford period products.
Department of Education (DE) officials had previously developed a business case to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK in supplying free products to schools.
Mr Weir is now seeking executive backing to implement the scheme.
It is understood that, if approved, it would make free period products available to all post-primary schools in Northern Ireland and any primary school which needed them.
It is expected to cost about £2.5 million over the next five years, and would include a campaign to raise awareness of period poverty.
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