“It’s so expensive to buy menstrual pads. Will putting toilet paper on the pad make it last longer?”
“Ah! My period is here, but I don’t have any pads… what should I do?”
The Education Ministry began promoting their “friendly provision of diversified sanitary products” policy in August of 2023, which invested over 200 million yuan each year to provide a monthly subsidy of NT$200 for the economically disadvantaged. It also subsidizes high schools and vocational schools to set up a fixed location on campus to distribute a diverse range of sanitary products to students. Reporter for Kids followed up by visiting different campuses and found that while some campuses worked to increase disseminating the products through “group orders” and others have the flexibility to use digital student IDs for students to redeem at convenience stores, others are financially restricted to only providing for the most financially disadvantaged students. For the program to reach more students in a friendly, label-free way it will require creative thinking, and a new approach.
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By Tristan Hilderbrand, Iris Hsu, Amanda Stephens, Hanna Bilinski, Mary Anne Sioco, Michelle Chiang, Amber Hatfield, Fil Leskovsky, Rti“It’s so expensive to buy menstrual pads. Will putting toilet paper on the pad make it last longer?”
“Ah! My period is here, but I don’t have any pads… what should I do?”
The Education Ministry began promoting their “friendly provision of diversified sanitary products” policy in August of 2023, which invested over 200 million yuan each year to provide a monthly subsidy of NT$200 for the economically disadvantaged. It also subsidizes high schools and vocational schools to set up a fixed location on campus to distribute a diverse range of sanitary products to students. Reporter for Kids followed up by visiting different campuses and found that while some campuses worked to increase disseminating the products through “group orders” and others have the flexibility to use digital student IDs for students to redeem at convenience stores, others are financially restricted to only providing for the most financially disadvantaged students. For the program to reach more students in a friendly, label-free way it will require creative thinking, and a new approach.