In countries like Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and India, school children in compulsory education are provided with a universal school meal every day – usually a hot meal – regardless of what school they go to and regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
In Sweden, for instance, students aged seven to 16, and also most of those aged 16 – 19 years old, and in secondary school, are given a free hot meal in school every day as part of their school day.
In other countries, children are given free school milk or fruit every day as part of their education, and some countries provide a free daily school meal to those most at risk, especially students from low-income families.
This matters when across the EU, it is estimated that a quarter of ALL children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and many families have difficulties feeding their kids.
Free hot meals for all Irish primary school children?
In Ireland, as per today, 345,000 primary school children are now eligible to receive a hot meal in school every day, a massive jump from when the pilot project was started a few years back and only included six sample schools.
And as the government admit they would like to see the hot meal scheme rolled out to include every primary school in the state, a new poll shows that as many as two-thirds of people strongly agree that all primary school children should have access to a universal free hot meal every day.
The poll conducted by the Children’s Rights Alliance comes amid ongoing debate about how to spend the bonanza of corporation tax revenue.
According to the survey, 65 percent "strongly agree" that primary school children should have free hot school meals, while 24 percent "slightly agree."
A majority also believe they should be provided to children during the school holidays as well.
Spokesperson Julie Ahern said such a measure would be transformative for young children.
"Food is a huge issue for families"
Speaking on Newstalk, Ahern stated: “Food is a huge issue for families.”
She added: “We know that the hot school meal programme that is in place in schools is having a huge, positive effect on these children and young people. Having these meals in place can really make sure that during the term time, these young people can participate because they’re not distracted because they’re hungry.”
The poll also found that two in three people support an increase in social welfare support for children in low-income families.
“We have one in five children in Ireland experiencing deprivation,” Ms. Ahern said.
“That could mean things like going to bed hungry because there’s not enough to put food on the table every night.”
*This article was originally published on EveryMum.ie.
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