First dispenser for tampons and sanitary towels at a school
Press event on 24 April, 3.30 pm, Vocational School for Health and Social Services
On Monday 24 April at 3.30 pm, the first dispenser for tampons and sanitary towels in a Chemnitz school will be installed at the Berufliches Schulzentrum für Gesundheit und Soziales, An der Markthalle 10. This will provide menstrual products free of charge. The city of Chemnitz is thus realising a youth initiative.
Representatives of the media are invited to attend. Young people from the Chemnitz Youth Forum, Tina Faber, project manager of "Jugend voran" and organiser of the youth ideas competition, and Katrin Günther, coordinator for child and youth participation in the city of Chemnitz, will be present.
With the idea of a "hygiene dispenser for Chemnitz schools", young people won first prize in the Chemnitz youth ideas competition as part of the "Jugend voran" project in 2022. Feline Weltz from the Chemnitz Youth Forum: "Schoolgirls should have easy access to tampons and pads if they don't have them available straight away or have perhaps forgotten them." Hedi Berg, also a member of the Chemnitz Youth Forum, adds: "Making tampons and pads available at schools will help to reduce the stigma and shame associated with this topic." Making tampons and pads available free of charge in schools will ensure that girls and young women have free access to them when they need them.
To ensure that this is not just an idea, four such dispensers for tampons and sanitary towels were purchased as part of a pilot project using municipal budget funds. In addition to the vocational school for health and social services, three other schools in Chemnitz will also be equipped with them.
In addition, at the city council meeting on 22 March 2023, €10,000 each in 2023 and 2024 for the "free provision and disposal containers of and for hygiene articles for girls and women at secondary schools (high schools, grammar schools)" was approved for the Chemnitz city budget. Implementation of this measure will begin once the budget has been approved.