Won’t wash . . .

I WAS astounded by a report of schools buying washing machines for children attending secondary school wearing dirty clothes.

When I was at school there were no washing machines. We were effectively a singleparent family as my father was in a sanatorium with TB for seven years.

Mother worked, but ensured we always had clean clothes, all hand-washed or boiled and ironed with a flat iron heated on a gas ring. When we were old enough, my siblings and I would help. But then, we didn’t have the cost of computers or smartphones or the time wasted using them. ALAN STACKMAN,

Calne, Wilts. I AM amazed the Government is to supply free sanitary products for girls at school, as some are absent for a week each month because they can’t afford to buy their own.

Do any one of these girls own a smartphone?

If so, you can’t tell me that whoever pays for that, whether it is the girls or their parents, could not also afford to pay for sanitary products that cost less than £2 for a pack of 12 in chemists and supermarkets.

Head teachers say they can’t afford essentials such as books and stationery. It seems to me the Government, parents and girls should get their priorities right and pay for what they need first and then things that are nice to have. Mrs D. STORK, Basingstoke, Hants.