���˿���

The education minister has received executive approval to provide free period products to all schools in NI.

Peter Weir brought a paper on 'period poverty' to the executive meeting on Thursday.

Now that it has been approved, the scheme is expected to be in place for September 2021.

The governments in England, Scotland and Wales already run schemes to provide free period products for schools.

Scotland recently went further, making products like tampons and sanitary pads available free to anyone who needs them.

There is currently no Northern Ireland-wide scheme to provide girls with access to sanitary products in schools.

Instead, initiative likes the Red Box Project provide products to individual schools.

There are also schools which run their own schemes based on donations from pupils, staff and parents, like Belfast Royal Academy's Pink Paper Bag project.

Other organisations, like the ���˿���less Period Belfast, have called for free sanitary products in schools, while MLAs on Stormont's education committee also expressed support for the move.

There is concern that some girls miss days at school because they cannot afford period products.

The initiative is expected to cost about £2.5m over the next five years, and would include a campaign to raise awareness of period poverty.