Good news for the fight against student insecurity. The Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal announced this Tuesday, February 23, 2021, that from the start of the 2021 school year, hygienic protections would be free for all students in need.
1,500 distributors of hygienic protection at the start of the 2021 school year
The Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal announced, during a meeting in Poitiers with students which took place this Tuesday, February 23, 2021, that menstrual protections will be free for students from the next school year. This is good news when we know that the queues continue to lengthen in front of the Crous and solidarity grocery stores in the face of the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic.
In the coming weeks, the CROUS university residences and university health services will now be equipped with hygienic protection dispensers. “We are targeting 1,500 distributors and complete free entry at the start of the school year” said the minister before adding that these goods will be “environmentally friendly”. France will thus align itself with Scotland which, since November 24, has become the first country in the world to provide free periodic protection to all people who need it.
13% of students have already had to choose between purchasing sanitary protection and other basic necessities
This decision follows a recent survey carried out by the Federation of General Student Associations (FAGE) which revealed, in its report published on February 8, that 13% of students have already had to choose between buying hygienic protections such as tampons or towels and buy another basic item. According to the data, more than one in ten people say they do not change their protection regularly because of lack of means, which increases the risk of developing toxic shock. Worse yet, one in ten people say they have ever had to make their own personal protective equipment.
In an interview given on RTL, Cécile Thévenet from FAGE spoke about this news: “ We are very happy. […] We are waiting to see how it will be put in place but it is a great victory, a great step forward “. As for the quality of the products, the student organization asked that the hygienic protections made available be as harmful as possible. ” We also talked about setting up a reflection on reusable protections and raising awareness around the subject. »Explains Cécile Thévenet.
