Feed all schoolkids for free.. but with no shame on the side
Union backs expansion of meals help
Scotland’s biggest teaching union has demanded free school meals are “urgently” extended to secondary pupils ahead of a crucial vote.
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said thousands of parents are going without food so their children can eat. And he warned that older children entitled to a free meal refuse them because of the stigma.
MSPs are set to vote on Tuesday on an amendment to the Good Food Nation Bill which would extend free meals – currently only given to primary one to five pupils – to everyone who wanted one.
Flanagan said: “Free school meal provision needs to be extended and accelerated, as an urgent priority, to be inclusive of all young people at all stages
of school in Scotland. As the cost of living rises, thousands of parents are regularly going without food so their children can eat – at home and in school.
“Many families are also unaware of their entitlements to free school meals so are missing out while others fall just
below the threshold of entitlement so are also missing out. Crucially, many older children entitled to free meals experience real stigma in going to collect them so miss out rather than suffer the shame.”
Scot t ish Labour MSP Monica Lennon has tabled the amendment to the Bill. Labour, Conservatives and the Lib Dems are expected to back the move but the SNP and the Greens are not yet on board – despite the Greens supporting universal free meals in their 2021 election manifesto.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress’s (STUC) women’s committee has been lobbying for the move through their Food For Thought campaign. The drive is also supported by charities including Children 1st, Child Poverty Action Group, the Poverty Alliance, the Trussell Trust and One Parent Families (Scotland).
Lennon said: “We are seeing a shocking and shameful rise in hidden hunger in classrooms, which doesn’t stop at the primary school gates. Voting against this proposal would let down a generation of children and young people.”