A pilot project to provide secondary schoolgirls with menstrual products free of charge will kick off in the next scholastic year, the government announced on Monday.

Work has started to assess similar schemes in other countries and identify the best products to distribute and how best to distribute them, junior minister Rebecca Buttigieg said.

The project will then be implemented in a select number of schools during a testing phase, before the scheme is made available to all schools nationwide.

The announcement, made on Monday, comes one day after menstrual hygiene day, marked annually on May 28.

Several countries have introduced schemes providing access to free menstrual products in schools. The University of Malta took a similar step earlier this year, when its students’ council introduced a free menstrual product dispenser at its Msida campus. The locker was broken into by thieves a month later.

Buttigieg said the plan to provide free menstrual products in schools – which was included in the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto – would help eliminate gender inequality.

“We want to eliminate stigma surrounding menstruation and teach people that this is a natural process,” she said.

The government is also assessing the possibility of slashing VAT on menstrual products to “the lowest possible rate,” she said, reiterating a pledge made last year.

Such products currently carry a standard 18 per cent VAT rate.