Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Supports Menstrual Product Purchase Costs for 20,000 High School Girls

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education has decided to support the purchase cost of sanitary products to promote the healthy growth and development of female students and improve educational welfare.

According to the Office of Education on the 17th, the support targets are about 20,000 female students enrolled in high schools within the jurisdiction. The purchase cost of sanitary products to be supported is for six months in the second half of 2021, with a total of 69,000 KRW allocated per student.

Two 30,000 KRW local currency (Gwangju Bank Sangsaeng Card) vouchers will be distributed to each household, and the remaining amount will be used to purchase products in kind, which will be stocked at schools so that female students can use sanitary products anytime at school without any burden.

Before supporting sanitary products, the Office of Education produced health education materials titled ‘Proper Use of Sanitary Products (Menstruation Education Video)’ and distributed them to each school. It was also uploaded on the Gwangju Office of Education’s YouTube channel for wide utilization.

The female student sanitary product support project is a cooperative project between the Gwangju Office of Education and Gwangju City based on the ‘Gwangju Office of Education Female Student Sanitary Product Support Ordinance (promulgated on February 26, 2021).’ In 2022, the purchase cost of sanitary products for 12 months will also be supported for female high school students within the jurisdiction.

Lee Byung-kwan, head of the Physical Education and Arts Convergence Education Division at the Office of Education, said, "We decided to universally support sanitary products for the female menstrual phenomenon, which individuals cannot choose," and added, "We hope this will help guarantee the health and right to life of female students, and we ask for cooperation from each household to ensure that the support funds are used in accordance with the purpose of universal support for sanitary products."