Supplied: Stefan Lendvay
)It's every teenage girl's worst nightmare — getting their period at school and not having any sanitary items.
But that fear will soon be a thing of the past, with pads and tampons to be freely available in all Tasmanian government schools from term three this year.
Premier Peter Gutwein made the announcement while delivering the State of the State address in Parliament yesterday.
"Last year, a 14-year-old student wrote to the government asking for free sanitary items for girls in our schools, explaining that many students struggle to buy these products, and sometimes even miss school because of that," he said.
"We need to remove barriers to learning, and so I'm pleased to say we will make sanitary items freely available in all government schools from Term 3 this year."
The 14-year-old girl who wrote the letter is Exeter High School grade nine student Layla Seen, who is passionate about the issue.
"I know many females here that have that problem of not having the accessibility of free sanitary items," she said.
"Sometimes it gets too hard for them and they can't come to school so they miss out on a lot of education and things they could be learning for the future.
Layla said the issue frustrated her as she believed these students should have the same access to sanitary products as everyone else.
ABC News: Margaret Burin
)The letter was part of a school project where students had to write to a politician about something they wanted to be changed.
Before that project, the class had a debate, but not all of the students agreed with Layla.
"A lot of the boys in particular thought it was a luxury item instead of a necessity, which bothered me a lot. It's not a luxury, it is needed," she said.
She is pleased the government has taken notice of her letter.
Similar programs already seeing success
The announcement comes after a free sanitary item vending machine was installed at Don College in Devonport in the state's north-west.
Community service teacher Karen Slay said she was approached by a group of students last year about the Share the Dignity vending machine.
The group then approached the principal with the idea.
"He helped the girls write a letter to Share the Dignity and also to fill out the paperwork" she said.
"We were put on hold for a fair while because of COVID, but 13 months later and we finally have our machine," Ms Slay said.
The vending machine has given out 304 period packs in the last 3 weeks.
ABC News: Erin Cooper
)Health and Wellbeing teacher Nick Haywood said access to sanitary products could have a big impact on a student's educational outcomes.
"If they can't be here because they're uncomfortable about something, it's not just their physical health, it's their mental health as well that we're concerned about," he said.
"But I think this speaks for itself, there's been over 300 of these little boxes roll out in the last 3 weeks, so girls are obviously comfortable doing it and I think it's unreal that we rolled this machine out as the first school in Tassie."
"I think the outcome will be the attendance rates we have at college," he said.
Student Emma Johnston said the machine came about after students attempted to try and work out what the biggest problems at Don College were.
"We found that the problem was that girls aren't coming to school because they're having their periods," she said.
"So, as a class in community services, we decided that was going to be the best option — to contact Share the Dignity and try and get a vending machine in."
ABC News: Erin Cooper
)Simone Piva from Share the Dignity said it was exciting that Don College was the first school in the state to install a dispenser with free pads and tampons.
"We believe that period products are a right, not a privilege, and we find that a lot of women and girls just can't afford to buy period products after they've bought other items," she said.
"The issue with having them at school is that the girls can access products whenever they like, without having to go up to an office, or to ask a teacher or ask a series of teachers for some products.
