Subj : Schools deliver last-minute petition to save lunch programme
To   : All
From : News
Date : Thu Apr 11 2024 12:15 pm

Some school students and principals have launched a last-minute bid to
attempt to persuade the Government not to slash the school lunch programme.


The Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches Programme, established in 2019,
provides nutritious lunches to around 235,000 students each school day.


But its future is uncertain after Associate Education Minister David Seymour
asked for it to be reviewed ahead of the Budget in May.


A petition from Health Coalition Aotearoa has since been presented to
Parliament, urging the Government to reconsider.


Bishop Viard College in Porirua was among the schools fighting to keep their
school lunch programme.


"This Government does not care about children," student Henry Tanuvasa said.
"David Seymour, I know that you're in Parliament but that does not mean you
have to take free lunches away from these innocent kids."


Bishop Viard College principal Chris Theobald said 420 students were provided
with meals each school day.


"It motivates our kids to come to school it energises them for the
afternoon," he said.


Theobald said because the lunches were provided in-house, there was "very,
very minimal to zero wastage".


Ngati Toa School in Porirua was also at Parliament as the petition was
delivered.


"If we had no more school lunches some kids won't have any food," student
Isaiah O'Neill-Woolley said.


'Delivering results while spending less money'
The programme costs more than $300 million per year, but funding could be
slashed by as much as half as the Government looks to make it more
cost-effective.


"We've got to make Cabinet decisions about how we're going to implement it
and make it more affordable," Seymour said.


"Our challenge will to be to deliver the results that everybody wants while
spending less money."


Health Coalition Aotearoa's Lisa Te Morenga claimed that Seymour "never
wanted the school lunch programme anyway".


"In coalition, he knows it is important to some other partners so let's just
hope that cuts are not as big as it could be," she said.

Christchurch social worker Janelle Richardson believed the programme should
be extended.


"I'm seeing a massive increase in people needing help for food, their
children not being able to attend school, and a lot of shame and
embarrassment for these parents not being able to have enough food to be able
to send their kids to school," Richardson said.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/64)
 * Origin: S.W.A.T.S BBS Telnet swatsbbs.ddns.net:2323 (63:10/102)

.