School Lunches

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

A recent article in the New Zealand Herald discussed the “The price and politics of $3 school lunches…”. The article triggered memories of my own childhood at school.

I remember our mum sending us off to primary school with lunch. Looking back, I cannot recall a time when we did not have lunch in those 7 or 8 years at primary school. In the earlier years there were occasions when there was no bread from the grocery store. Mum made takako, just flour and water dough, sometimes with baking powder added, baked in the oven. That flat bread she sent us to school with. I was a bit shy about it, other kids had their cut sandwiches, I had takako with no butter on it. In the last years at primary school, most days we had sandwiches, always filled with Watties baked beans. Boring, but we ate them. Our mother loved us and sent us to school with whatever lunch she could manage.

The Value of School Lunches

"Students can't focus if their stomach hurts because they're hungry or their head hurts. They're not learning, and they're not making positive choices." - Diane Gillen

There are many factors that contribute to the successful outcome of a child’s education.

• Having a lunch at school is fundamental for a child, it helps with concentration, in turn leading to better learning of whatever subject is taught. Hunger distracts a child’s attention, and they struggle to learn.

• Ideally lunches should be nutritious for a healthy, developing, growing child. The Ministry of Health offers guidelines to help parents select types of foods for a nutritious lunch with consideration for cultural and religious values. Not all have the money to fully follow these guidelines, any lunch is better than nothing. Avoid fizzy drinks and snack foods.

• For some families lunch is the only food the child may have access to on a consistent basis. The government funds over 150,000 school kids in New Zealand. It is incumbent on the government to keep funding school lunches for this reason alone. 

• Parents will ensure their children attend school every day if they know their child will be fed. Happy children with lunch in their bellies will be better behaved in class. Education is the long-term goal; empty bellies do not help with achieving that goal.

 Economic Benefits

• Our current government has an obligation to reduce costs in all areas of the economy. For some, $3 a lunch is not enough to provide a nutritious lunch for the student. Previous spending varied between $6 to $9 per lunch. The minister responsible found savings using buying power and centralising the contracting process. His view is that the nutritious value of the $3 lunch has not been lost.

• Providing equal access to nutritious meals helps level the playing field for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, promoting social equity and opportunity.

• School lunches support local businesses.

• For families it helps reduce the financial strain on their weekly food budget.

• Two incomes are required for most families to cover the basic needs to support their family unit. Mortgage, rent, food, clothing, activities, transport costs, insurance, all bite into their combined income. Not having to prepare lunches frees up time for the parents and kids to get to work and school.

• Good behaviour at school from kids who have lunch everyday will lead to less disruptive behaviour as adults. 

Obstacles

Providing school lunches is a long-term play. There is no loss to society, only gains, in governments giving funding support for school lunches. 

The only obstacle is public opinion and how it shows up in the ballot box. Based upon the comments section to the New Zealand Herald article, the dominant trend is against school lunches being funded by the government. Intergenerational conflict, where older generations point out that younger generations were supported in school fees, healthcare and other benefits, so they shouldn’t complain about school lunches. The principle of individual responsibility and resentment towards paying for "other people's" children, overlooks the support given by an earlier generation of parents. Parental neglect is often mentioned as to why some children have no lunch when at school. 

There are some voices advocating social responsibility through the school lunch program, these comments are in the minority. 

Comments show a heated debate is happening with a sizeable portion of commenters expressing negative views toward the concept of publicly funded school lunches.

Despite the negative views of most commenters toward publicly funded school lunches, politicians with a keen sense of social responsibility should stay strong in supporting the public funding of school lunches. The positives for the children, the community and the country far out way any perceived injustice. Education of our children is the goal; an officially supported school lunch program helps achieve that goal.