The case for Free Breakfasts and Lunch at school
My greatest political regret was that MANA wasn’t able to get the Feed the Kids Bill though (thanks to Peter Dunne who was prepared to sell his vote to John Key for mass surveillance but not grant Feed The Kids a 3rd reading).
Feeding every kid a free nutritious Breakfast and Lunch would be the single greatest means to lift educational achievement than any other educational policy.
It would directly remove a huge weekly cost to the poorest amongst us, would greatly reduce truancy and would build life long positive ends to education.
Unfortunately Feed The Kids failed because a large swath of NZ believes feeding hungry children a nutritious breakfast and lunch at school lets the parents off the hook and they would prefer children go hungry than allow free breakfasts or lunch.
Our truancy rate is going to cause a tumour of social cancer that will stunt this nations development.
Feed all the kids in every school free Breakfasts and Lunches so that young peoples first experience of the State is kindness and not shit!
Nothing will attract students from vulnerable communities like knowledge of Breakfast and Lunch.
This policy would do more to put money back into the pockets of the poorest than any other single policy and lift educational achievements.
Hungry kids don’t learn!
When I talk about free breakfast and lunches at school, I’m talking good, nutritious food, not cheap shit!
I’m talking about funding for school gardens and parents paid to come in and help serve the kai.
I’m talking about seeing food security via our schools as an essential for resilience and I think the same level of food subsidy should be provided for RSA, homeless shelters and Churches as well.
We need to get back to basics, and food security is the most basic of basics.
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Even back in the glory days of the local economy (1950s-60s), already the school campuses were looking quite backward.
It was at that time that mess halls serving breakfast and lunch should have been built on every campus — a basic facility for an advanced nation school system.
Of course back then they were already giving away free milk in the schools, which has also since been canned.
The campus facilities have barely progressed since then. I am often shocked at the poor quality of the new buildings erected on them, and how many campuses don’t even have basic things like indoor corridors.
Come to our church & we provide a free lunch (there is a donation box which tends to be ignored) every week. It provides for the physical need while also allowing the fellowship that our lifestyles have tended to neglect, it is very rare to see anyone using their phone as they are talking to each other which is a good change from other public waiting areas where most people are using their phone & it is virtually impossible to start a conversation with a stranger.
It may be more cost and health effective to have a bowl of porridge or marmite toast before setting off for school, especially for travelling children – family finances permitting. A decent midday school meal is a no-brainer though, and is a given throughout the civilised world, and it shouldn’t have to be argued about. Primary school children in particular aren’t the best at food foraging.
Time was when all of these children got free mid -morning milk. I was one of them. In winter, it was made into hot cocoa, very welcome in the chilly shadow of the Alps. Then the National government came along and abolished free milk on hypocritically spurious grounds. The free post-WW11 apples were long gone by then. A third or more of today’s apple crop feeds the ground, not empty bellies.
Bleating about unhealthy obesity while kids eat badly, or not at all, seems another sort of madness.
I’m hungry. What did I do wrong? Can you please share?
First breakfast and now lunch. Why not dinner too? It would save the parents from having to ever get sober.
Speak for yourself, Andrew.