Education secretary to look into providing free sanitary products for pupils

The Education secretary Justine Greening announced to MPs that she will look into offering free sanitary products for some of the poorest pupils.

This follows a campaign which highlighted the problem of “period poverty”.

A petition has also been signed by nearly 15,000 people calling for schools to give pupils the free items.

Greening will look at specifically providing sanitary items for pupils who receive free school meals.

The charity Freedom4Girls, which gives sanitary products to women in Kenya, has since been offering the same service in Yorkshire.

The group were contacted by a school and Leeds to help understand why the attendance of teenage girls was low.

It was discovered that some girls took time off every month because they or their families could not afford tampons or sanitary towels.

At education questions in the House of Commons, Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland said that it was “deeply shocking” that in the 21st-century girls are being absent from school because of not being able to afford sanitary products.

Greening replied stating it was an “important issue” which she will “look at carefully”.