Free menstrual products will be available to students in Rijeka elementary schools founded by the City of Rijeka from the next semester, Deputy Mayor Sandra Krpan announced on Wednesday, reports Index.hr.
The city administration has earmarked HRK 200,000 from the city budget for this next year.
Deputy Mayor Goran Palčevski pointed out that introducing hygiene supplies in schools is a step towards the planned introduction of health education in elementary schools in Rijeka.
The project was inspired by the success of Civic Education, with the Rijeka model being adopted in many other areas in Croatia, he said.
Palčevski stated that by the end of the current term, the city authorities plan to prepare a health education program and then introduce it in schools in the second term.
The introduction of free menstrual products in schools was prompted by the city government’s research by the PaRiter association, which showed that some girls do not have access to hygiene supplies.
The program coordinator for women’s rights and reproductive justice in the PaRiter association, Marinella Matejčić, warned that the problem is the lack of hygienic conditions in schools, such as garbage cans, but also hot water and soap in some schools.
PaRiter also confirmed on Facebook that the City has decided to introduce free sanitary pads for girls.
“Now at 10 am, the City of Rijeka is announcing important news – it will introduce free menstrual products in all elementary schools in the city! We are incredibly proud that our research #AuntPeriod has received such proactive reactions.
However, we still hope that the Croatian government will soon understand the unambiguous messages to the public and reduce the menstrual tax to #5 percent, to reduce social inequality, remove sexism from the law, and show that they are ready to give up misogynistic levies,” the PaRiter Association, an association for human rights and civic participation, posted on Facebook.
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