SHOULD SCHOOLS POLICE PACKED LUNCHES?
Healthy-eating rules result in lunchbox snack bans
In order to try and encourage people to stick to a healthy lifestyle – and diet – the Government has released guidelines on which foods are good, and which should be avoided. It also regulates what English schools can offer as school lunches. Schools are encouraged to have their own healthy eating policies, to make sure pupils with packed lunches also eat well. Now, a school in Bradford has attracted criticism for its packed-lunch patrol – some parents are angry that unhealthy items such as sausage rolls and pork pies are being confiscated from their children’s lunch boxes. They think that, by interfering with the lunches they pack, the school is overstepping its mark. But is it, or should schools do whatever they see fit to ensure their pupils are healthy?
Yes – schools are being responsible
The Government’s school meals healthy eating standards are in place to ensure that children eating school lunches aren’t fed anything too unhealthy. This means no drinks with added sugar, and no more than two portions of deep-fried food every week. Children bringing their own lunches to school rely on their parents or carers to pack healthy food for them. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. When parents don’t meet the school’s healthy eating guidelines, it’s right that the school steps in and takes the unhealthy food out. Eating too much fat, salt or sugar can lead to health problems. Inspecting packed lunches is a way of teaching the right lessons at the right time – to keep pupils well in the future.
No – it’s not their job
Schools are responsible for teaching academic skills, but many important lessons are learned at home. Parents and guardians teach children manners, morals and values, clothe and take care of them. Parents should be allowed to feed their children what they want; a school has no right to overrule a parent’s decision and confiscate items from a pupil’s lunchbox. More than that, if a school removes food, what does it replace it with? One parent at the Bradford school was shocked to hear that his son’s sausage roll was replaced with a ham sandwich. “He hates ham,” said the dad. “There’s no way he was going to eat it.” If a school wants to educate pupils about healthy eating, it should do so at lesson time, not lunch time.