VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Students across B.C. may soon not have to pay for feminine hygiene products.

Education Minister Rob Fleming says the province is looking into how much such a program would cost.

This comes after New Westminster’s school board decided to become the first city in B.C. — and all of Canada — to offer tampons and pads free of charge in bathrooms at all public schools. Since then, several other school districts have said they’re looking into doing the same thing.

“No student should have to miss school because they don’t have access to menstrual products,” said Fleming in a statement.

“When I first heard of the New Westminster school district initiative I asked staff to find out more about what they are doing. We are also currently talking with the BC School Trustees’ Association and other districts to understand the needs of their students. We’ve discovered that some districts are already providing free menstrual products to students but in different ways,” he added.

A Douglas College professor who pitched the idea to the New Westminster School board has estimated the move will cost schools in that city less than $1 per student, after the second year of installing the machines.

Surrey’s Board of Education chair believes such a policy in that school district would cost upwards of $200,000 to start up.

– With files from Kurtis Doering and Jonathan Szekeres