The Government is set to announce a ‘food-in-schools' programme today aimed at providing free breakfasts to the country's most hungry.
Prime Minister John Key confirmed the Government has teamed up with corporate partners, believed to be Fonterra and Sanitarium, to bring food into schools.
Although the Prime Minister is keeping exact details under wraps until today's announcement, he says the scheme will target the children most in need.
He says while most New Zealanders believe parents should provide breakfast for their children, some children are being left out.
"A lot of people . . . would say it's the parent's responsibility to look after their child, make sure they have a breakfast - how hard can it be that they have a piece of toast or a Weet-Bix or whatever they might be feeding them?
"And that's right, it is the parent's responsibility.
"But the issue is if the parent doesn't give the child some breakfast, then will they learn at school? The evidence is, not very well, and I think therefore they become a victim in the whole thing."
The Government already finances some of the fruit-in-schools programme, which sees around 11 million pieces of fruit delivered to schools each year.
3 comments
What next?
Posted on 28-05-2013 08:47 | By YOGI BEAR
Mothers at school? So the state will take over all "motherly" duties? Does that mean schooling will start earlier? The teachers will become mummies?
Fund by deducting the cost from benefits
Posted on 28-05-2013 10:54 | By Phailed1
It's a good idea to ensure children are looked after, but it's not a good idea to let parents off the hook who don't spend their benefits on food. So pay for this through existing budgets for benefits because otherwise I can see it becoming a growth industry. Will there be a CEO of Food in Schools, and when will it extend to lunches and early dinners as well?
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Posted on 28-05-2013 11:22 | By NZgirl
No child should go hungry, but....this is another case of sloppy parenting. How many of these children that go hungry have parents that would rather spend their benefits money on smokes and cases of beer. Bad parenting bad budgeting. You only have to go to the supermarket on a Thursday to see it. The people that this is aimed at obviously don't work so what's wrong with them using their "spare time" to dig the garden and plant some veges...oh that's right too much like hard work!
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