WAATEA NEWS COLUMN: Food in schools is helping Māori students – so why short change it?
A Ministry of Education report, Nau Mai E Ngā Hua, has found the food in school programmes makes students happier and better learners.
It also specifically benefited Māori students, but it made ALL students happier and better learners, WHILE specifically benefiting Māori students.
It’s almost a perfect solution isn’t it?
A social programme that helps ALL students WHILE specifically benefitting Māori students!
There are not many silver bullets to our societal woes, but public education is one of them.
There are not many silver bullets to truancy, poverty reduction and better behaviour, but free nutritious food in Schools is one of them.
Why mess with something that is culturally appropriate, accessible to everyone AND working?
When it becomes a political issue.
The new Government have slashed the funding by giving the contract to an enormous corporate whose food is minus any of the aroha going into the food produced by Ka Ora, Ka Ako who were providing free nutritious food for 25% of the poorest schools.
I predict this lack of human connection between the student and the food provider will torpedo all the positive benefits the kai produced under the existing Labour Party arrangements.
Cutting costs that benefit Corporations while undermining local jobs, local cultural relevance and the local community to save money because of economic conditions that had nothing to do with the poorest children is disgraceful politics.
Hungry children in a land of plenty deserve better than the cheapest option.
The Political Right know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
if the meals are so good roll them out to the whole Public Sector Government included.
I think you know that’s not going to happen.
Slops for kids shows how they are valued by this Govt. Hospital and aged care residents already know what Compass Cook/Chill slops menu is like!–some with Listeria etc. as an added bonus.
Various schools had developed students growing vegetables for a “from the garden to the table” programme which is now under threat. Local suppliers are getting the boot in favour of a corporate with a bad track record in food quality and worker treatment.
For snobs out there, Scandinavian countries provide free quality meals for all school children because it is the right thing to do.
“…while undermining local jobs, local cultural relevance and the local community to save money…”
Yes, that’s the tragedy and stupidity in all this. It’s false economy and false efficiency. Developing new community-organised businesses to do the food prep, encouraging local suppliers and forming local networks to salvage food that would otherwise be wasted and coordinate donations. All these things are gold in terms of community resilience and wealth-building.
But such collective economic action is the last thing that far-right ACT zealots would support – instead they want to see the big players wealth-strip the community for a return to their shareholders.
Thats why ACT wanted it gone completely so the Maori kids would starve to death as they did in the days after the treaty .
Oh how dramatic can you get?
“Food in schools is helping Māori students – so why short change it?”
You answer the question in the question, at least as far as ACT are concerned.
In an argument with my Chinese born wife I told her Chinese children are brought up under a cruel tyranny.
‘Yes, ” she said ‘ a dictatorship where all schools have kitchens and prepare a nourishing daily meal for school pupils.’
‘A terrible tyranny with decent, cheap public transport and affordable electric power.’
So what do I say to that? Any suggestions?
We are a society with a social welfare that supports those who through no fault of their own fall on hard times through illness or lose of a job . We should be proud and pleased this is the case .
The flip side is those that can work do so and conduct their affairs according to their income.If they have children feeding them and getting them to school needs to be front and centre. Why is it the State’s job
The argument is philosophical. Do we entrust the care of our children to the state? OR Do families independently have the rights and responsibility to care for their own. Far too many people in this country want the the rights but not the responsibilities of parenthood.