Parent survey finds strong backing for SA Government to fund sanitary products in schools; SA-BEST, Labor to introduce Bill
Parents and teachers are demanding the State Government fund free pads and tampons from dispensing machines in schools. Now two political parties want to make it law.
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Parents and school staff overwhelmingly want the State Government to follow Victoria’s lead and reduce“period poverty” by funding free sanitary products in public schools.
About 80 per cent of 1362 respondents to a survey by parent group SA Association of State School Organisations (SAASSO) were in support.
The results come as SA-BEST and Labor today bring legislation to Parliament for a formal pilot program of dispensing machines with free sanitary products in high schools.
SA-BEST wants the pilot to inform a statewide rollout, including primary schools. MLC Connie Bonaros said period poverty caused girls to skip school activities or “miss school altogether”, affecting their education and “potentially the rest of their lives”.
The Victorian Government announced in September that it would spend $20.7 million over four years providing free pads and tampons from dispensing machines in bathrooms at every public school.
While the SAASSO survey found many SA schools provided sanitary products in “emergencies”, the Victorian model ensures girls who are too embarrassed to ask staff for supplies still get what they need.
SA Labor MLC Irene Pnevmatikos argued sanitary products were as necessary as toilet paper and no student should ever have to request them.
“Imagine the outcry if ... students had to go to the front office to obtain a (toilet paper) roll!” she said.
SA’s Commissioner for Children and Young People last month released a report labelling the current provision of sanitary products in schools (via charities, some involving dispensing machines) as “piecemeal”.
The report called for “a free, accessible and non-stigmatising supply and distribution scheme”.
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At the time, charity Foodbank SA said it could not keep up with demand, despite doubling to 5000 the number of feminine hygiene packs it will deliver to 100 schools this financial year. Foodbank SA’s distribution does not involve vending machines, instead relying on school counsellors and teachers building strong relationships with girls likely to need help.
Education Minister John Gardner said it was “already common practice in schools to have sanitary items available for students who need them”.
He said schools worked with not-for-profits “to establish and maintain vending machines”. “We are currently investigating how to expand this model to assist these organisations to reach more schools and how to best target the schools that need them most,” he said, adding sanitary products were cheaper since GST was removed.