The Labour Party has launched a petition to stop the Government from scrapping the free lunches in schools programme, and more than 16,000 people have signed it so far.
Former Tauranga Merivale School principal and now Labour Eduction spokesperson Jan Tinetti says the Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches.
“Teachers, parents and school communities are incredibly passionate about the free and healthy school lunches programme.
“In 24 hours, 16,405 people signed the petition Labour launched at 10.30am on Wednesday.
“This is a programme that feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money. It is exactly the kind of programme that should continue to be funded, especially during a cost of living crisis.
“Teachers are seeing more attention in the classroom and parents and caregivers are saving $33 per week per child, or up to $1,250 per year per child on average.
“Christopher Luxon and David Seymour must commit to keeping the programme and give schools, parents and providers certainty.
“The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds more than 200,000 children in nearly 1000 schools. It also employs hundreds of people in our communities – and they need certainty too.
“If the Government is serious about ensuring children have enough to eat they will not scrap this programme.”
Sign the petition to save free and healthy school lunches here.
2 comments
I guess..
Posted on 08-03-2024 09:07 | By groutby
.....some signatories are old enough to pay tax and some of them able to understand the value of the taxpayer dollar.
There is emphasis in the article about saving caregivers $$ per and employing 'hundreds' for this service, neither is bad thing if there was no welfare system in place currently to address this....however there is, and as long as additional handouts are available then caregivers will remain reliant.
As I understand there is currently no plan to scrap the free lunch in school programme...again the sky is not falling....but to target it and reduce wasted cost for the taxpayer, this would ensure only those with genuine need receive it.
Social media have convinced many that there will be a 'stigma' involved if only some are singled out, not so IMO, some adults think this but the students just want food and parents to be responsible....
@Groutby
Posted on 08-03-2024 12:52 | By morepork
A great post which I concur with 100%. Good to see some common sense here and not just emotional manipulation. The age-old argument for handing out ANYTHING is that there are always some with an eye to the main chance who will push to the front of the queue, whether they actually NEED to, or not. Nobody is going to suggest that we should let kids go hungry, whether their parents are incompetent or not. Of course there are families who really need this help (maybe through no fault of their own...) and we have to see that they get it. The real trick is to be able to separate the needy (for which there should be no shame) from the greedy (who are already shameful and should be recognized as such.) I hope the government plan is on this basis.
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