More and more British families are struggling to pay for their children’s canteen (AFP/Daniel LEAL)
It’s almost noon in the canteen of St. Mary’s Primary School. Schoolchildren in blue uniforms arrive in rows. Some fetch a platter of chicken with vegetables, the dish of the day, then settle around the plastic tables. Others eat a cold meal, brought from home.
At this south London school, many come from poor families and half of the students get a free meal in the government-funded canteen.
But not all households meet the criteria and, in the midst of an economic crisis, some parents are struggling to pay the 2.40 pounds (2.80 euros) for lunch.
Claire Mitchell, the school’s vice principal, sees families’ financial situation worsening since the pandemic, which has only worsened with the cost of living crisis.
“Families have lost their jobs or hours of work. (…) And in a city like London where prices are rising all the time, they can no longer make ends meet,” she explains.
Inflation in the UK is close to 11%, and the rise in prices is much higher for energy bills or food. The most precarious are the hardest hit.
British media are reporting stories from across the country of teachers and even children sharing their meals with students who have barely anything in their lunchboxes. Others say that children hide out of modesty.
St. Mary’s has its own food bank, and more and more parents are asking to be able to come and pick up groceries there, Ms. Mitchell says. However, she knows that others hide their financial difficulties out of pride or fear of stigmatization.
“We live in one of the most prosperous cities in the world, it’s shocking,” she says indignantly.
Millions of Britons are giving up heating or eating properly and are skipping meals, and children are not spared, according to numerous studies.
According to the charity The Sutton Trust, which surveyed teachers, the number of children whose families can no longer afford lunch at school has increased in half of public schools in England with the cost of living crisis.
– Impact on the future –
“You have to earn 7,400 pounds per year maximum, in addition to social assistance, to be able to benefit from free meals at school, this ceiling is too low”, especially for large families, protests Stephanie Slater, founder of the School Food Matters association (school food is important), interviewed by AFP.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimates that 800,000 poor children in England are not eligible for free meals at school, due to overly restrictive criteria.
CPAG as School Food Matters ask that meals in public schools in England be free, “as is the case in some European countries like Finland”.
England football star Marcus Rashford and star singer Zayn Malik, who benefited from free school meals as children, campaigned against the Conservative governments of Boris Johnson and then Rishi Sunak, and helped put the issue in the public square.
The mayor of London, the boss of the supermarket giant Tesco… many voices are calling for an extension of the criteria or even free school meals in primary school in public education.
Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, Wales or Scotland are moving towards this solution and, in London, certain districts have taken the initiative to finance them.
But the government of Rishi Sunak remains inflexible.
“More than a third of pupils in England benefit from free meals (…) and we are extending the national school breakfast program with an investment of 30 million pounds”, defends a government spokeswoman joined by the AFP.
Professionals point out that going to school hungry can have lasting repercussions.
“Obviously there are many factors that cause students to have difficulty in school, but hunger plays a big role in children who have trouble concentrating,” notes Claire Mitchell, assistant director of St Mary’s.
“It can prevent them from reaching their potential” and limit their future prospects, she laments.
© 2022 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
