Somewhat missing from public discourse is the rationale for any school lunch programme.
Is it just to help students from families that cannot afford or are too lazy provide lunches so their children can get through the day? If so how should they best be allocated and how does the state avoid stigmatising the children?
Lunch programmes exist in many countries around the world including: the UK, Japan, India, Brazil, Finland, Kenya and the USA. Some are free and in France there is part payment depending on parent’s income
In NZ we don’t seem to have had a national conversation about the state’s role in respect of lunches. Instead we have stumbled into it step by step with the charitable sector leading the way – see KidsCan.
Maybe even though it’s a bit late we should have a rational and civilised discussion whether and if so how should the state be involved. Key questions being: should the state provide any lunches and if so will it be just for those that want a “free” lunch, or to all children and make the programme a feature of the day?
Whatever the answer I am fairly confident the answer will not be just three providers of lunches, a highly risky course which this government has adopted and got the unsurprising result and negative media attention.
If the lunches are just for the needy I believe they should be provided regionally or school by school with the state allocating funds and some parameters re quality. Quite frankly I would have thought quality sandwiches plus a fruit would be perfect for the entire year with fillings changing from time to time.
If we are to have national school lunch programme for all then that would probably have to be at school level with approved kitchens as are required for restaurants. This would be a major undertaking and I doubt this government is up for it or that the majority of parents would want it, but let’s have that conversation.
Barrie Saunders has a background in Government Relations and blogs at www.barriesaunders.wordpress.com. - where this article was sourced.
Lunch programmes exist in many countries around the world including: the UK, Japan, India, Brazil, Finland, Kenya and the USA. Some are free and in France there is part payment depending on parent’s income
In NZ we don’t seem to have had a national conversation about the state’s role in respect of lunches. Instead we have stumbled into it step by step with the charitable sector leading the way – see KidsCan.
Maybe even though it’s a bit late we should have a rational and civilised discussion whether and if so how should the state be involved. Key questions being: should the state provide any lunches and if so will it be just for those that want a “free” lunch, or to all children and make the programme a feature of the day?
Whatever the answer I am fairly confident the answer will not be just three providers of lunches, a highly risky course which this government has adopted and got the unsurprising result and negative media attention.
If the lunches are just for the needy I believe they should be provided regionally or school by school with the state allocating funds and some parameters re quality. Quite frankly I would have thought quality sandwiches plus a fruit would be perfect for the entire year with fillings changing from time to time.
If we are to have national school lunch programme for all then that would probably have to be at school level with approved kitchens as are required for restaurants. This would be a major undertaking and I doubt this government is up for it or that the majority of parents would want it, but let’s have that conversation.
Barrie Saunders has a background in Government Relations and blogs at www.barriesaunders.wordpress.com. - where this article was sourced.
6 comments:
I know of families where there are two parents , but one parent is a gambler and the other parent alcoholic . Both parents work and the family income is quite high. But money for children's food is tight .
This is a social problem and why should schools be drawn into solving it ? Food vouchers redeemable only for real food given out
by govt. social agencies ?
As stated before Labour originally believed free lunches would get truants back to school but the truancy numbers increased.
That didn't work because the issue was truancy not hunger.
I had students who dropped their mothers' carefully made lunch into the first rubbish bin they encountered on the way to school and instead they spent pocket money on addictive junk food. Children ' s behaviour can be very perverse and ridiculous and even devious.
Thank you for your article . My concern is primarily with our shocking educational standard like 75% of low SES ( socio-economic) students failing to pass the numeracy teats for NCEA.
Schools should stick to their knitting - teaching academic subjects which they are failing to do , and leave food dispersal to others who are knowledgeable in this area.
In Japan, school lunches have always part of the curriculum since public schooling began - a holistic curriculum that includes inculcating healthy eating habits. Parents have to pay a nominal charge. Food is prepared on site and pupils take an active role in food preparation and distribution. There is no comparison between school lunches in Japan and in NZ in terms of why they exist.
In Finland, school lunches became an anti-poverty strategy after WW2 when the Soviets tried to pull the starvation stunt on a country that had allied with Germany. They became an established part of schooling and are still around, in fact free, to this day.
Here in NZ we use school lunches to supposedly make up for negligent parenting. We should be prosecuting those parents instead. If you malnourish a dog, you may be prosecuted....... but it's OK to malnourish a child, it seems, as the taxpayer will pick up the tab. Well, if this taxpayer had a say in it, he wouldn't!
Not sure Barend how Soviets could influence Finlands poverty after WW2? I thought Finland had forced Russia out of Finland early on in the war .
Finland ceded considerable amounts of its territory to the USSR at two junctures during WW2. While not officially a member of the Axis, the Soviets treated the Fins as though they had been. The 'independent' govt of Finland after WW2 was heavily 'influenced' by Moscow.
It would be interesting to see a complete expenditure breakdown for NZ families who profess to be poor. I wonder how it would compare with a typical worker family of 1940s, 50s. Throughout school I had bread and jam, honey, marmite, sometimes cheese, lettuce sandwiches. Through my working life I cobbled in minutes 6 sandwiches, usually just jam or honey, and sometimes purchased a rock cake for morning or afternoon tea.. I doubt if I have had 3 butter chicken meals ever. i have never been overweight. I am in good shape well beyond 3 score and ten. Judging by what they carry out of takeaway shops my food bill would be a revelation to many of the allegedly poor grouping.. With the acheivable relatively high standard of living in NZ, even on a benefit, i doubt if school lunches would have originated had it not been for overseas precedent.
I would volunteer to wrap Marmite sandwiches for the kids in wax paper.
It worked just fine for the boomer generation.
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